


On Your Way

by zubeneschamali



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M, only one sleeping bag, reality show, travel porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:27:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 47,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25186360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zubeneschamali/pseuds/zubeneschamali
Summary: Jared's got a YouTube channel where he chronicles his attempt to run a half marathon in every U.S. state and all of the sights he sees along the way. Jensen's got a YouTube channel where he records his adventures in minimalist backpacking, taking to the most scenic places he can find with the least equipment he can carry. When both of them enter a competition for the best travel video blog—where the winner gets their own Netflix show—they'll have to decide if the growing attraction between them is more important than who wins the competition…
Relationships: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Comments: 78
Kudos: 143





	1. The Preliminaries

**Author's Note:**

> The original plan for this year's BB was something with much more action and drama and angst, but I just couldn't do it, given the fustercluck that is 2020. I'd been watching travel videos about Route 66, and the idea came to me of a travel video competition. Something short and fluffy, easy to write. Except the final story ended up over twice as long as the draft, and three weeks late in posting. Oops. Huge thanks to wendy for running this challenge, especially in this hell year, and for the extra time.
> 
> Many, many thanks to my alpha team of iwinsoiwin (who also did a fabulous job of beta reading), kelleigh, quickreaver, cherie_morte, and ashtray_thief. You wouldn't let me get away with the easy way out, and the story is better for it. You also kept me going when I was wondering if I would ever finish, and I love all of you.
> 
> I was so excited when quickreaver claimed my fic! At first I was like, "Wait, there's no blood or monsters here, are you sure?" But it turns out everyone needs some fluff now and then. It was an absolute pleasure to work with her, and I am so delighted with her art and with our collaboration. Check out her full post [here](https://quickreaver.livejournal.com/173563.html), as well as integrated in the story below.

"Hey Jaybird, your Coffee Orgasm Guy is back at it!"

Jared looked up from his laptop as heads swiveled towards the man who had just entered the coffee shop. As he got closer, Jared said, "Hi Chad, nice to see you, too. How's your morning going? Mine is fine."

"Yeah, whatever." Chad slid into the booth across from him, waving his phone. "Thought you'd be jumping all over this."

"I'm trying to get some work done. Looks like I might have a sponsor lined up for the next couple of months if I can get a few hundred more subscribers."

"Maybe you should fellate a beer bottle the next time you finish a race." Chad dodged the kick Jared sent him under the table. "I'm just saying! This Ackles guy isn't getting tens of thousands of subscribers because people are into nature walks."

"It's minimalist backpacking, and it's pretty badass."

"C'mon, like you watch his channel for the scenery."

Jared shrugged one shoulder and saved his document. He apparently wasn't getting any more work done any time soon. "It's pretty, yeah."

"And so is he, or so you keep saying. Dude, you've got to engage your audience like that. Run with your shirt off once in a while. Give 'em what they want."

"How do you know what 'they' want?"

"How many subscribers do you have? Under ten thousand, am I right?"

"Eleven thousand, two hundred. Give or take."

"You're never going to make travel blogging your full-time job if you don't step it up, man. Partial nudity is the way to go."

Rolling his eyes, Jared closed his laptop. "I'm not in competition with this guy."

"Of course you are. People can only watch so many YouTube videos a day. I mean, they can watch a lot of them, but if they want to follow the travel exploits of randos, they're gonna get bored after a while. You gotta give 'em something more."

"Who made you the YouTube expert?"

Chad shrugged and picked up Jared's coffee mug. "I read a lot." He took a swig of coffee and set the mug down. "Yuck. You need to get a refill so it's hot."

Jared pushed his mug to the edge of the table. Chad might have been his best friend since grade school, but that didn't mean he wanted to drink out of the same mug. "As I was saying, if I can get a few more subscribers, there's an energy gel company that might sponsor me. They think it's cool, running a race in every state and vlogging about it."

"No one says 'vlogging,' Jared. That's not a thing."

"It's totally a thing! Video blogging takes too long to say, and blogging isn't accurate." 

"Whatever. Just don't forget to post on Instagram today."

"Shit." Jared picked up his phone. "I gotta start setting reminders for myself."

"You need a social media manager." Chad poked himself in the chest with both thumbs.

"Uh uh. No way. You'd dig up high school yearbook pictures and scare the life out of my Instagram feed."

"I'd be giving hope to all the scrawny beanpoles out there that they can grow up big and strong and manly like you." Chad leaned over and poked Jared's bicep. "C'mon, The Chad totally has his finger on the pulse of social media."

"I've seen your Instagram feed," Jared retorted. "You know what eighteen-year-old girls post because you creep on them."

"At least they're all over eighteen," Chad muttered. 

Jared was about to reply to that when his phone buzzed. He looked down at the notification. "Huh, Traveling Light has a new video. Maybe I should watch it."

"You sure you don't want to wait till you're at home so you can have a little privacy?" Chad asked, eyebrows wagging.

That time, Jared connected with his under-the-table kick, and Chad's "Ow!" was loud enough to generate a few looks in their direction. Jared put in his earbuds and tapped the notification.

He'd watch it again at home, of course—not because he was going to do anything overly personal while watching Jensen Ackles' latest wilderness exploits. That would be weird. He'd watch it to see if he could pick up any tips for his own travel videos. There was something about them that got tens of thousands of people to watch this guy go for a walk in the woods, after all. For sure, he was damn good-looking, but that couldn't be all of it.

Jared tapped Play, squinting at the screen. The mountain panorama was breathtakingly beautiful, a snow-capped peak looming over a clear blue lake. There were purple flowers in the foreground, and the sound of a babbling brook filled his ears. Okay, there was definitely pretty scenery, and the gently burbling stream was a nice touch. Jared always made sure to bring in some local sounds in his videos, but maybe he needed more. Local music? That meant getting permissions, which would slow down the production process, which meant—

"Hi, I'm Jensen Ackles, and this is Traveling Light."

As the warm voice filled his ears, Jared sat back in the booth. It was a good thing he wasn't competing with this guy, because Jensen could be sitting there reading the dictionary and he'd get thousands of followers. Throw in the pretty scenery—beyond Ackles himself—and no wonder he was so popular.

The camera view changed to show Jensen himself in front of the mountain scenery. "This month, I crossed another state off my list. Montana is one of those states that I've wanted to backpack in for years, but the timing was tricky to work out. There's only a few months out of the year when I can get away with carrying as little as I do, and even then, I had some cold nights. But boy, was it worth it."

The camera kept panning around the lake, and right as it got to the water's edge, Chad kicked Jared hard enough that his phone clattered to the table. "Hey!" Jared barked, pulling one earbud out. "Watch the phone!"

"I can see you're going to be busy for a while, so I'll just show myself out." Chad leaned forward. "Wait'll you get to the coffee part. That even turned me on a little, and you know I don't swing that way."

"Get out of here," Jared mock grumbled, starting the video back up.

Jensen's voice continued on, smooth and low. "There's so many amazing places to go in this state, but I wanted something a little off the beaten path. So, I ended up in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, outside of Billings. Today's episode takes you through my hike on the Beartrack Trail up to the Silver Run Plateau."

The screen flashed to an olive green topographic map with a jagged red line cutting through it. Jared's eyebrows shot up as he saw the elevation change in the first couple of miles. That trail was a killer—the views had better be damn worth it. 

It certainly was worth it to watch the footage of Ackles panting as he paused partway up the trail, putting the camera briefly on himself before showing the scenery. There was sweat running down his neck, and Jared quietly "hmmm"ed to himself in appreciation. God bless the man for shooting video of himself like this and posting it on the Internet.

The views were, in fact, incredible. After the steep climb out of a valley lined with pine trees, the trail took a gentler slope through a forest and across the occasional stream. Jensen's style of filming was to walk for a short distance with the phone in front of him, then to cut to a point where he was panning around for the view. It was a good mix of feeling like you were there on the trail and being able to relax and enjoy the view. Jared wished the view included more of Jensen himself, but sadly that wasn't the real focus of the vlog.

He was less interested in the details of the backpacking, though he was impressed at the way Jensen made a wall out of snow bricks as a wind block for his little tent. It had to be freezing with the snow all around, even in mid-June. Jensen talked about how warm his sleeping bag was and how he ate a chocolate bar right before bed to give himself extra calories to burn as he slept. 

Still, Jared was glad it wasn't him up in that tiny tent in just a few layers and a sleeping bag. Then again, if he had to huddle for warmth with Jensen Ackles, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

The video covered three days in all: the hike out, the second day spent on a side trail climbing a mountain, and the third day hiking back. The scenery continued to be breathtaking, and Jensen's commentary on the plants and animals he saw along the way was enthralling.

When he got back to the trailhead, Jared sat up straighter in his seat. The good part was coming up. He watched as Jensen's buddy picked him up and dropped his gear in the back of a beat-up pickup truck. The truck pulled away, and then the video cut to the same truck pulling up to a cute, historic-looking downtown.

"Billings, Montana," Jensen was saying as he climbed out of the truck in front of a shop with a sign proclaiming Rock Creek Coffee. "And something I've been looking forward to for days."

The video switched to the view from Jensen's phone as he entered the coffeeshop. He briefly panned around inside the shop, but his focus was on the counter. The barista looked briefly surprised to be filmed, then shrugged it off. "What'll ya have?"

"Red eye," Jared mouthed along with Jensen. He always ordered the same thing, black as night. Quite the opposite of Jared's usual caramel latte, but to each their own. 

Now the camera switched to a view of Jensen picking up a cup from the counter. Jared leaned closer to watch as he closed his eyes and took a sip.

The smile that spread over his face was transformative, eyes crinkling and everything. Jared had never seen anyone look that happy with a cup of coffee in their hands. It made him think of what else might put that kind of pleasure on such a gorgeous face, even if he regretted telling Chad about having that thought.

On the phone screen, Jensen took a deep breath, inhaling the scent, before taking another, longer sip. "That is excellent," he said to the barista, flipping his wallet open to pull out a few extra dollars for a tip. "Worth waiting three days for."

The rest of the video was Jensen summarizing his trip before signing off. Jared watched the ending out of habit, knowing he was going to watch it again when he got home. For professional reasons, he told himself. Purely professional reasons.

Maybe he'd even leave a comment this time.

"Jensen, you've got five hundred hits already!" Danneel called out.

"I don't care!" he shouted back. 

"Yes, you do!"

He fastened his headphones more firmly over his ears. Danneel knew not to bother him the afternoon after he posted a new video. He was too nervous, wondering if anyone was going to like it and what kind of terrible comments people were going to leave and if this was the time people realized it was kind of dumb to watch someone else hiking in the woods instead of doing it themselves.

Soothing piano music played in the background while Jensen contemplated the maps on the screen. He'd been back from Montana for three weeks, with plenty of time to piece together the video and post it. Now it was time to plan the next trip. Somewhere up north, for sure, but maybe not too far north. It would be mid-August when he headed out, and there could already be snow falling in the higher passes. Backpacking with minimal gear was only fun when it was above freezing outside. This last trip above nine thousand feet had been almost too much. Colorado was probably his best bet; he could stick to somewhere in the Front Range if he didn't want to gain too much altitude.

"Oh my God!"

If Jensen could hear Danneel's shout over his music, it must be something really important. Sighing, he took off his headphones and got up from his computer. Poking his head out of his office/bedroom, he asked, "All right, what is it?"

"You got a comment from him! Hot Runner Guy!"

He blinked. Going down the hall so he could see Danneel sitting on the couch, he asked, "Really?"

She beamed proudly. "Yep. Jared Padalecki, at 2:55 PM. 'I always enjoy your videos, but this was especially beautiful. Makes me want to be there myself!'"

A thrill went down Jensen's spine, but he only shrugged. "That's kind of generic, isn't it?"

"You've had a crush on him for months, moping about how there's no way he even knows you exist, and you couldn't _possibly_ reach out to him as a fellow travel blogger because reasons. But there he is!"

Despite himself, Jensen came forward to look over her shoulder. The video had a respectable number of hits already, he couldn't help but notice. But sure enough, right there on the screen, was the guy whose videos he'd been watching for the past eight months and wishing there was any way to get in touch with him. And that was after posting a video where he'd been panting for breath more than usual. "Huh," was all he said.

Without looking, Danneel reached back and backhanded his shoulder. "Ow," Jensen added.

"This is great!" she said. "Now you can reply to his comment and tell him how you enjoy his channel, too, and suggest maybe you should meet up and compare travel tips, or whatever the kids are calling it these days."

Jensen shrugged. "There's too many comments to reply to them all, and I don't want to single out some people and not others."

"You reply to some of them. Why not this one?" She looked up over her shoulder at him where he was leaning against the back of the couch. "Unless you're chicken."

"Bawk bawk," he said quietly. 

"Oh, Jensen." Danneel set her laptop on the coffee table and patted the cushion beside her.

Jensen reluctantly rounded the end of the couch and plopped down next to her. "It's no big deal. It's not like I even know him. He's just a guy who makes these cool travel videos and happens to live a few hours away."

"And who likes your videos, too." Danneel elbowed him in the side. 

He sighed. "I appreciate that you're trying to hook me up with someone I only know through YouTube, but I'm not that desperate."

She laid her head on his shoulder. "I just want you to be happy, Jen."

"I know." He slipped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a sideways hug. "You wanna help me plan my next trip?"

"Well, it's going to have to have spectacular scenery if it's going to get Hot Runner Guy's attention again," Danneel started. 

Jensen rolled his eyes. "Like it wouldn't have spectacular scenery anyway."

"That one in New York State wasn't too spectacular."

"I didn't know there were going to be cellphone towers visible from the final viewpoint."

"And a major highway with any kind of fast food you could want just a short walk down the hillside. Kind of like Thoreau going off to the woods to live deliberately and then heading home every day for his mom to make his lunch."

"Hey, I still packed everything in and everything out," Jensen retorted. "Besides, it was pretty cool to say I could take a bus to the trailhead and still get out into some pretty remote areas."

"Except for the cell phone tower."

He rolled his eyes again. "Are we gonna have to check out the entire route on Google Earth from now on to make sure it's got enough wilderness going on?"

"If you want to keep Hot Runner Guy's attention, it probably wouldn't hurt."

They discussed possibilities for the rest of the afternoon. Jensen was in favor of somewhere with a lower elevation so the hike wouldn't leave him out of breath so often. Danneel countered by suggesting someplace hot so he'd have to take off his shirt as he hiked. He started tickling her in retaliation, and then she tickled back, and soon they were laughing and red-faced, the upcoming hike all but forgotten.

That night, in his room, Jensen brought up Finding Your Happy Pace. It was so different from his video blog: this Jared guy was obviously an extrovert, given how he casually struck up conversations with other people all the time. He had a similar goal as Jensen of taking a trip in all fifty states, but instead of backpacking, he was a runner. Half marathons, no less. So he visited a new city, ate some good food, ran farther than Jensen ever had in his life, and chatted up anyone he could find to tell him about the place. 

Jensen was in awe of that. Sure, he could walk for an entire day over mountainous terrain, but he carried food and water with him, and he was never trying to go fast. And he usually sought out trails that were unlikely to have more than one or two other people on them. The point was to get out in nature, to make use of the environment so he carried as little as possible, and to not have to share the experience with anyone else. 

He'd started on a trail near Yosemite one time and turned around after a couple of miles when he kept having to dodge other people. The last straw had been when someone coming down the mountain told him there had been ten other groups at the campsite at the peak the night before. That was way too many people for him to have to interact with in what was supposed to be the wilderness. 

So, to watch this guy casually chat up everyone he came into contact with was kind of amazing. Not that Jensen could blame people for talking to Jared; he was tall, damn good-looking, and had this wide dimpled smile that always made Jensen grin in response. It wasn't that Jared kept the camera on himself; he usually only put in a few glimpses of himself – at the start of a race, the end of a race, and once or twice in his explorations of the city. In fact, Jensen wished Jared would spend more time in front of the camera, since he was definitely easy to look at.

But he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, too. Jensen clicked through the pages until he got to one of Jared's older videos, where he ran a half marathon in New Orleans. It was fun to see people in a wide variety of costumes, runners who stopped to drink all sorts of beverages along the way, and the cheerful atmosphere. 

But there was also the moment where Jared—who'd been pretty close to the front—stopped to help a runner who'd tripped and fallen, getting him to an aid station before continuing on his own race. Jensen would be a little upset if he'd destroyed his finishing time like that, yet Jared seemed unperturbed. He even followed up with the race paramedics later to see if the man he'd helped was all right, his GoPro recording the whole thing. 

Jensen loved that video because it also made the guy who shot it seem like a bit of a nerd. There he was in Party City, USA, and he didn't film himself getting wasted on Bourbon Street. Instead, he went on a bunch of tours: famous foods of New Orleans, historic architecture, and a cemetery trip. The last one didn't come through so well on the camera because it was at night, but it still looked like he was having fun and trying to make sure that his audience learned something from his own trip. Jensen wondered if he was or had been a teacher.

When Jensen finally closed the tab, he sighed to himself. It was pretty cool to think that Hot Runner Guy, as Danneel loved to call him, watched Jensen's videos, too. He would have to think of some way to respond to his comment that wasn't too dorky or eager, yet that might spark more conversation. Danneel was right, they only lived a few hours apart, between Austin and San Antonio, and wouldn't it be amazing if they got to talking and decided to meet up…

Jensen shut his laptop. No use getting ahead of himself. First, he had to fall asleep while thinking of the perfect way to word a YouTube comment. "FML," he muttered to himself.

Jared was on the e-mail list for Traveling Light, but he kept refreshing the YouTube page anyway. Jensen was supposed to announce his next destination this morning, and Jared wanted to know where it was. 

He was almost done with preparations for his next trip. It was tough to get a run in for some of the smallest states, since they only had a few races per year, and he only had so much money for travel. But in four weeks, there was a half marathon at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, that involved running down the boardwalk. He'd never been to that part of the East Coast, and it seemed interesting. At least there'd be cotton candy and salt water taffy to eat after running.

He was clicking through TripAdvisor's recommendations for the best things to do in Delaware when Chad dropped into the seat across from him. "Dude, you are not going to believe this!"

Jared didn't look up from his screen. "All of your tests came back negative?"

"What? No! I mean, yes. I mean—that's not the point. Have you seen this?" Chad held up his phone practically in Jared's face.

He looked up to see something about a YouTube contest for vloggers. "No, I hadn't seen it."

"You have to enter, Jaybird. You win this, and you get your own travel show. This is the ticket you've been waiting for!"

He took Chad's phone and scrolled through the announcement. There weren't a whole lot of details, but the gist of it was that YouTube and Netflix were hosting a joint contest to find the best travel video blogger. The winner would get a season's worth of their own show on Netflix called On Your Way, all expenses paid.

He looked up at Chad. "Sounds pretty cool for whoever wins."

"And that's gonna be you, bud. With The Chad as your producer, we'll get you entered right away. Now, you might have to re-do your plans for your next trip, but we can talk about that."

"I've already got the plane tickets, Chad. I'm going to Delaware."

"Who gives a shit about Delaware?" When Jared glared at him, Chad waved a hand in the air. "Look, I know you've got this hard-on about getting to all fifty states or whatever. That's nice, it makes your OCD happy, fine. But you gotta put your best foot forward, man. Find some exotic location where you can get really sweaty. And put the camera on yourself more—you don't do that enough."

Jared momentarily ignored his friend as he searched for the contest announcement on his own device. He read it over more carefully, noting the details and starting to get excited. "Okay, so if I was interested, sometime in the next two months, they would look over what I already have on my channel. So it doesn't matter where I go in August, because it won't be up in time anyway."

"Good point," Chad said, cocking a finger-gun at him. "Get one of the rinky-dink states out of the way while you can. It's the trip after that that's got to be special."

Jared kept reading. "So they pick ten finalists based on everyone who sends in their channel. Wow. That's got to be a lot of videos to look through."

"Looks like the ten finalists then have six months to produce three more episodes." 

"That's not so bad. With fall coming up, there'll be a lot of races, so it should be easy to find one in a good location."

Chad was grinning. "You're totally going to do this, aren't you? Can I be your producer when you win?"

"You can fetch me coffee," Jared said as he kept reading, moving his leg out of the way of Chad's kick. "Wait, not everyone gets that far. After the first set of videos, three people of the ten are dropped. That narrows it down to seven, then four, and then one in the end."

"I guess it would take way too long to do it one person at a time. But is this like a reality show thing? Where you know who won, but you can't tell your family or anyone about it until it airs?"

Jared shook his head. "Says here that they get all of the contestants together for a weekend to do the eliminations live on YouTube. Wow, that doesn't sound stressful at all."

"C'mon, you got this, Jay. Well, with a few modifications, but we can work on those."

"Expressions of interest are due…shit, that's the end of this week!" Jared ran his hand through his hair. "Guess they don't want anyone going out and shooting when they're not already somewhat established." 

"Makes sense," Chad replied. "I mean, they are planning on turning over a TV show to whoever wins, so it can't be a complete newbie. Still, you’d probably be one of the youngest guys there."

"I don’t know, I’m sure there are lots of people in their late twenties who have their own YouTube channel. But not their own TV show." Jared propped his chin on his hand and stared across the coffeeshop. "Could you imagine if I actually won?"

"That would be so awesome!"

"It would be amazing." Jared liked writing articles for travel blogs and for running magazines, but it was a lifestyle that meant constant worry about where his income was going to come from next month or even next week. Not that it would be much different as a professional blogger, which he'd been trying to move towards. The energy gel sponsor hadn't come through yet, though he was getting close. If he could win the prize and have his own TV show, he wouldn't need to worry about sponsors.

He stretched his arms over his head. "All right, I'm going to have to write a short essay for the application. Then I need to pick the three videos that best represent what my blog is all about."

"Not New Orleans, man. You come off like such a nerd in that one."

"Shut up, that was fun."

"What was the one where you were flirting with that hot chick?"

"I don't flirt with chicks, Chad," Jared said absently. He was looking at the list of his twenty videos, trying to decide which ones would put him in the best light. Maybe he could ask his editor at the travel blog; he might have a better sense of what would sell. 

He didn't even notice when Chad left, too busy making notes for the essay and scrolling through his video list. This had to be perfect.

"If you don't sign up for this contest, I'm signing up for you."

"Danneel, can you imagine me with my own TV show? It'd be a disaster."

"Right, like the 'disaster' that your channel is with all of those comments every time you post something. People are waiting on pins and needles to find out where you're traveling to next. Put them out of their misery already! And announce that you're joining the contest while you're at it."

"I don't know." Jensen sighed and clicked on the contest description again. 

"Maybe Hot Runner Guy will enter, too, and you'll finally meet him! Now that you're at least having conversations in the comment section."

Jensen was pretty proud of himself for not only responding to Jared's comment on his video, but going to Jared's blog and leaving a comment there as well. He felt like he had absolutely nothing to say, but then he thought about how much it meant to him when Jared said he liked his video, and so he screwed up his courage and said that Seattle looked really fun and that Jared made a great travel host.

He didn't expect a reply at all, much less one later that evening, but it made him grin like a loon. It also got him to reply to Jared's comment on his video, and it only took him half an hour to come up with the right words.

The next morning, Jensen looked over his travel plans one last time and then went to his "studio." It was a green screen he unrolled over his bookcase so he could insert a relevant picture later. Clearing his throat and reciting the words in his head one last time, he nodded at Danneel.

When the recording light went on, he aimed a big smile at the camera. "Hi. Thanks to all of you who watched my latest video and left comments. It's great to know you enjoyed my trip to Montana. Some of you wanted to know where state #20 was going to be, and I'm here to let you know. Since it's summer, I try to stick to the mountain states, and that leads me to Colorado!

"Now, there's obviously a ton of places I could go, and it makes me sad that I can only choose one for now. I wanted to keep it as low-altitude as I could, since I'm coming from Texas. And if you've followed me for long, you know I want to make sure I'm not sharing the trail with hundreds of other people. So, from what the Internet tells me, the northern part of Colorado, near Steamboat Springs, is the place to be." Jensen leaned forward and lowered his voice. "And just so I don't have y'all following me and filling up the campsites, that's all the detail I'm providing for now. You'll have to watch this channel for more!"

Danneel stopped recording, and Jensen dropped on the bed. "That was stupid."

"It was great! People will be trying to figure it out and asking questions and learning about places they've never heard of before. Then they'll watch your videos to see if they were right." She looked over the tops of her glasses at him. "If you had an Instagram, you could post pics along the way."

"Dani, there's not going to be cell service in the middle of the—what is it? The Arapahoe National Forest?"

She looked at the maps scattered across his desk. "Is that the one you decided on?"

"I think so." Jensen scrubbed his hands through his hair. "It's still above nine thousand feet. I'm going to have to spend a week there ahead of time acclimating."

"Oh no, a week in one of the most gorgeous places in the world, whatever will you do?"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, fair point."

"In the meantime, you can use the rest of this week to put together your application for the contest."

"I don't know…"

"You need to select your three best or most representative videos for consideration. They'll look at everything on your channel, but they'll focus on the ones you select." Danneel sat back, chewing on a fingernail. "Definitely the canoe trip in the Boundary Waters."

"Yeah, but that one's not really typical. I had the canoe to carry my stuff in."

"Except for the times you had to carry the canoe."

He waved her off. "I think the one in southern Illinois is better. It shows off that you can find wilderness in the most unexpected places, which is kind of why I started doing this in the first place."

She sat up straight. "Does that mean you'll do it?"

"What the hell, why not?"

Danneel squealed and jumped up from her chair to tackle Jensen onto the bed. "Can I be your producer when you win?"

"Oof! I think they'll have professionals for that. And it's not like I'm going to win."

"Whatever. I think you'll be surprised at how far you can go."

He patted her shoulder and tried to sit up. "Right now, I'm buying my plane tickets to Colorado."

"Hey, the first meeting of the finalists is going to be in Denver!" Danneel waved her phone in the air. "You might be headed right back there in a few months."

"Can't wait to hear all of the 'Rocky Mountain High' jokes." 

"Just promise me you'll really try for this," she said, suddenly serious. "If you ever want to try and make a living off of this blogging thing, you need to garner some more attention. Even if you don't win, just being one of the finalists could get you a sponsorship or two. You're not even halfway done with the fifty states, and if you had some real funding instead of living in a cheap apartment with an overly-generous roommate, you wouldn't have to work so hard."

"I'm still on the fence about making a living off of it, you know. At least software development lets me bank up hours and travel when I need to, unless a release is coming up. It's worth it to scrimp and save so I can go so many interesting places."

"Just don't put it that way on the application. Say you adopted your minimalist style to demonstrate how to travel sustainably."

"While I fly everywhere I go?" Jensen shook his head. "No one will buy that. But I get your point. Best not to advertise what a cheapskate I am, or no one will want to watch." 

"I tell you, just hike shirtless and you'll get thousands of new subscribers like that." Danneel snapped her fingers and smirked. 

Jensen rolled his eyes and stood up. "The backpack straps would chafe my chest and back too much. No way."

"Aw, come on. Do it for Hot Runner Guy."

Jensen stopped in his tracks. Now that he knew that Hot Runner Guy—no, Jared—was watching his channel, was that going to change how he filmed his trips? 

He shook his head and started looking for plane tickets. He was doing this for himself, not anyone else. That had always been the case. And that would be the case even if he did get into this competition. 

An unpleasant thought struck him, and he suddenly looked up. "You don't suppose they do the whole reality show thing, do you? Interviews and challenges and embarrassing you in front of strangers?"

"I mean, it's a competition and they're going to vote people off of in real time."

Jensen shuddered. "I don't know."

"Just give it a shot. Send in your application and see what happens. Worse comes to worse, you get voted off right away and go back to doing what you're doing. No harm, no foul."

"I'll decide in the morning."

"Fair enough." She gave him a mischievous look. "You can discuss it with Hot Runner Guy in the comments."


	2. Denver

Two months later

Jared climbed out of the car and looked up at the hotel. It was a fake-looking dude ranch, on the outskirts of Denver where the foothills started to get too steep to build on. The view was spectacular, looking out over the sprawl of Denver and sloping down towards the Great Plains that ran endlessly to the east. Behind the ranch, the sage-dotted red-orange rocks of the mountains rose up, with a few snow-capped peaks just visible in the distance.

"Pretty awesome, huh?"

Jared turned to see the host of the main event, a short and cheerful man named Richard Speight he recognized from TV and commercials. "I'm Jared," he said, sticking his hand out. "It's nice to meet you."

"Jared the runner! Welcome to On Your Way. And wow, are you tall. I can see why running is your thing." Richard shook his hand with a grin. "You're one of the first ones here, so let me show you around."

The main building had a huge lobby/sitting area with couches and chairs gathered around a central fireplace. There were technicians setting up cameras and lights, and Richard gestured towards the space. "This is where we'll have the group discussions and the individual interviews as well."

"Not very long interviews, right? We're only here for two days."

Richard laughed and clapped Jared on the back. "Don't worry, you didn't wander onto the set of 'Big Brother.' We want the emphasis to be on your work rather than us all yammering about it. But we have to drum up some audience interest so there are people to vote for you!"

"Right, of course." Jared looked around as Richard led him down a hallway. It looked like a typical hotel corridor, with numbered rooms and cute if kitschy lodge-themed décor. Richard consulted his phone and then stopped in front of the next-to-last room. "This one is yours!" 

Jared opened the door and went inside. The two twin beds had red-and-black plaid bedspreads, and there were at least six pairs of antlers hanging on the walls. But a glance at the bathroom showed him a rain shower that was tall enough for him, there was a huge TV screen opposite the beds, and everything looked very clean.

"Nice," he said, turning to Richard. "Are we sharing rooms?"

"Nah, this was just what they had available this week. So, I'll let you get settled in, and you can wander around as you like. Dinner's at seven, drinks at six, if you want to start meeting the competition." He winked at Jared and handed him a keycard.

Jared grinned and nodded. "Six and seven. Got it."

Once Richard was gone, Jared opened up his suitcase on one of the beds. He knew that going for a run might be difficult with the altitude, but it was his favorite way to see a new place, and he had a couple of hours to kill. Changing quickly into his running gear, he tucked the keycard into the pocket of his shorts and headed out.

Down the driveway, there was a two-lane road with red dirt shoulders. Jared started uphill at an easy pace—better to save the downhill for the way back. Across the road, construction was going on for half a dozen new homes in a subdivision. To his left, though, the view was incredible: golden and green grasses sweeping up to the base of pine-covered hills, the bright blue cloudless sky hanging over it all. 

Jared briefly stumbled, lost in the view. He shook his head at himself and continued on. He might not run with earphones, but he still needed to pay attention to his surroundings.

The road dipped and curved, and soon there was a small dirt side road to the left. Jared turned down it, intrigued by the looming red rock he could see in the distance. Half a mile later, he was looking up at the tall, jagged formation. The rocks were so abrupt here, poking up into the sky out of hillsides that must have eroded away around them. He made a mental note to see what he could find out about the geology of this place and then laughed at himself. This wasn't one of his blog trips.

But maybe it could be, or something like it in the future. He hadn't managed to cross Colorado off his list yet, a little intimidated by the altitude. He knew that if he came a week or so ahead of time, he should be acclimated enough to be able to run. He wouldn't set any personal records, but he'd do okay. Hell, he was doing all right here with just a basic half-hour run on his first afternoon a mile above sea level.

Still, as Jared turned around and went back the way he came, he was grateful for the slight downhill. His legs were fine, but his breath was coming faster than normal, and his shirt was sweat-soaked for such a short run. He was definitely looking forward to a shower and then to dinner. 

When he entered the lodge, there were a bunch of people sitting on the couches. The cameras weren't filming. Still, Jared tried to slip past before anyone saw him all sweaty. He saw a petite woman with dark hair give him a curious look, but he made it to his room without anyone trying to talk to him.

Then he dug his keycard out of his pocket and realized he didn't know what his room number was.

Jared looked up and down the hall. Had it been on the left or the right? He remembered it was pretty far down the hall; had it been the last room or the next to last?

He tapped his card against the last door on the left, but it only blinked red at him. He tried the door handle anyway. No luck. He backtracked to the next-to-last room, and that time the little box blinked green. He had turned the handle when the door to the room he'd just tried swung open, and his neighbor poked his head out. 

"Oh wow," Jared said before he could help himself. "It's you!"

Jensen Ackles looked just as delectable in person as he did on screen. He was wearing a t-shirt from Glacier National Park, faded jeans that hugged his bowed legs just right, and bare feet. He looked Jared over, eyes widening, and blurted out, "Hot Runner Guy!"

Jared blinked. 

Jensen blushed. Then he facepalmed. "I am going to kill Danny," is what Jared thought he heard him mumble, though he was a little too busy getting excited by the fact that apparently Jensen thought he was hot, which was way more than he could have hoped for.

Even though he was sweaty and disgusting, he took two steps back to Jensen's door and stuck out his hand. "Hi! My name's Jared Padalecki, and I'm a fan of your videos."

"You are? I mean, hi, my name's Jensen." He shook Jared's hand in a nice firm grip that made Jared want to keep their hands locked for as long as possible. "I'm a fan of your videos, too."

"That's awesome!" Jared beamed. "It's so cool to meet you. And it's so cool that we're both here, right? I had no idea who the other finalists were—I guess that's part of the whole thing, to have us meet here and not be able to check out each other's stuff ahead of time."

"But we already have," Jensen said with a small, shy smile. "That is, if we're both fans." 

"Yeah, that's right!" Up close, Jensen's freckles were easier to see, and Jared wanted to get even closer, maybe enough to lick them. He made himself back up before he did anything really dumb and gave Jensen a friendly wave instead. "Well, I need to shower before the happy hour, so…I'll see you there?"

Jensen bit his lip. "I don't know, I have some e-mails to answer. I thought I might just come for dinner."

"C'mon, it'll be fun! I want to hear about where you're going to go next. The video you just posted was amazing. It was from Colorado, right? Was that from near here?"

"Yeah, it was. I mean, no, it was halfway across the state." Jensen reached up and rubbed at the back of his neck, that same small smile turning up the corners of his lips. "But yeah, I could tell you about it."

"Awesome!" Jared grinned. "Okay, I'll see you then."

When he got inside his room, he shut the door and leaned back against it, closing his eyes. He hadn't sounded too dorky, had he? Too eager? Jensen had looked a bit overwhelmed, but Jared knew he could come on pretty strong if he was excited. And he was _definitely_ excited about being this close to Jensen Ackles. Like, right on the other side of the wall, and hey, there was a connecting door between their rooms, and what if they—

Jared shook his head. "Don't even think about it," he said to himself. 

He showered and dressed as quickly as he could, noting that it was already almost six. He was really looking forward to getting to talk to Jensen more, maybe even sitting next to him at dinner. He couldn't wait to tell Chad about it.

Jared pulled out his phone and saw he already had a text from Chad. All it said was, _Have you jumped your boy yet?_ followed by eggplant and peach emojis.

Jared stared at the screen. Then he typed out, _How did you know he was here?_

_finalists r on the contest website. u didn't look?_

_They weren't there this morning._

_keep up, Jayman._

Jared sent back an emoji with the tongue sticking out.

Chad replied, _save that for Coffee Orgasm Guy_.

Jared started to respond with how Jensen had called him Hot Runner Guy, but he stopped. Chad didn't need to hear about that. Maybe he'd just keep that one for himself.

Jensen shut the door and stared at the wooden paneling. Had he really called Jared _Hot Runner Guy_ out loud? "Fuck my life," he said aloud, hopefully quietly enough that Jared wouldn't hear it out in the hall.

The door next to his closed, and he thunked his head against his door. Okay, time to get over that. Jared hadn't seemed to freak out about it, which was a good sign. Especially since their rooms were adjacent, and Jensen had noticed earlier that there was a connecting door, and oh no, that meant his room connected to Hot Runner Guy—

He cut that thought off. No way was anything like that happening. They were here to sit for some interviews, meet the other people they'd be competing against, and that was all. Jared was a competitor of his, he had to remember that. He was probably straight, not that Jensen had been able to determine anything from how Jared interacted with people in his videos. Jensen would lose his focus if he spent too much time mooning over his long legs and well-muscled arms, and God, even his sweat had smelled good. 

Jensen lightly hit his forehead against the door again. "Get it together, Ackles," he said quietly. Apparently, he had agreed to go out and socialize with a bunch of strangers, all because Jared Padalecki had asked him to, and now he had to psych himself up for that. No big deal. 

He waited until the clock said 6:10 before heading out. The lobby was empty, but voices from the far corner led him through it and into a large bar/dining area. There were a dozen people scattered around, holding drinks and chatting.

Jensen took a deep breath and pasted a smile on his face. _Here we go_.

The first thing he did was ask the bartender if he had a local beer. The craft brew he was given wasn't one Jensen had heard of, and he made a mental note to look it up later. Depending on how this weekend went, he might have to make a short video about it if he wanted to promote himself—

"Jensen!" 

He turned to see Richard heading towards him. The man had been very enthusiastic upon meeting Jensen a couple of hours ago, although Jensen figured he was just that way with everyone. "Let me show you around!"

Jensen followed the host around a couple of groups of people until they stopped in front of a trio of women, all of whom looked up with interest as he approached. "Ladies, I'd like you to meet Jensen Ackles of Traveling Light. Jensen, we have Genevieve Cortese, Lisa Berry, and Rachel Miner."

"Nice to meet you," Jensen said, shaking hands with each of them in turn. Rachel was in a wheelchair, and Genevieve was quite short, so he felt like he was towering over them. "What do all of you do?"

"Practicing Women." When Jensen blankly stared at Genevieve, she pursed her lips and said, "I'm trained as an architect. I travel to some of the lesser-known masterpieces designed by women architects and try to make them known to a wider audience."

"That sounds interesting," Jensen said.

"My focus is music," Lisa said. "Folk, rock, jazz, whatever. I pick a place I want to visit and learn as much as I can about the local scene and its history before I share it with anyone who wants to watch. Kind of like Genevieve, I guess."

"I think we all want to reach people in some way and teach them something they don't already know," Rachel said. "For me, that's letting people know you can still see the world in one of these." She tapped the arm of her wheelchair.

"What kinds of places do you go to?" Jensen asked.

"Almost anywhere you can go," she returned, but with a smile rather than as a challenge.

Still, Jensen took a swig of his beer before replying. "I, uh, I have a video blog about backpacking."

Her smile slipped a little. "Okay, that's not something I've done before, I'll admit. But I've been to a lot of National Parks. There's more and more accessible trails all the time."

"That's good to know," Jensen said. "I mean, most people who watch my stuff aren't going to go out and do it themselves anyway, right? They want to watch someone else do it, I guess." 

"Depends who they are and why they're watching," Lisa replied. "I hear from people who want to know how to get to the same places I went, and other people who just like listening to the music."

A booming laugh suddenly caught Jensen's attention, and he turned to see Jared at the other end of the room, head thrown back and laughing at something the man in front of him had just said. Jensen felt a surprising twinge of jealousy at that, and he turned back to the group.

Genevieve had already moved away, and Rachel was holding up her empty glass before wheeling away towards the bar. Jensen shifted so he was standing next to Lisa and tried to think of something to say.

"You ever done anything like this before?" she asked, waving a hand to indicate the room and the people in it. "A competition like this?"

He shook his head. "I don't even watch reality shows."

"Yeah, me neither. My husband entered me in this thing without even asking me. When he told me I was one of the finalists, I made him sleep on the couch."

Jensen chuckled. "But you decided to come here anyway."

"I mean, I'm not going to turn down the chance at my own show. Even if I'd rather not be in the spotlight."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Jensen drained the rest of his beer. "My best friend doesn't get how I can post videos of myself on the Internet and yet still not want to be up at the front of the room."

"They're completely different things. Musicians are like that, too: how they are when they perform doesn't always match up with what they're like offstage. It's all right to have a persona that you put on sometimes, or to be comfortable being in front of people in some situations and not others."

They heard Jared give another loud laugh, now at the middle of a group of about six people who were all laughing with him, and Jensen couldn't help but smile. "Then there are some people who are just good with other people."

"Do you know him?"

He shook his head. "Not really. We've seen each other's videos before, but we never met until today."

"What's he do?"

"He's a runner. He's trying to run a race in all fifty states. And then he hangs out for a few days and does a little travelogue of the place he's in, whether that's a big city or a small town. It's pretty fun to watch."

There was a faint smirk on Lisa's face. "You just said more about his work than you've said about your own."

"It's all right to be comfortable in some situations and not others," Jensen said loftily. 

When Lisa chuckled at having her words thrown back at her, Jensen grinned. He was fine with people one-on-one. As long as there were enough interesting people around—and there were bound to be, given that they all had something in common—he'd be fine.

It seemed like no time at all before Richard was welcoming them all to the first weekend of On Your Way and ushering them into the huge dining room for dinner. There were placards at the long table, each with a name and a little drawing that had to do with the person's videos. Jensen's was a couple of mountain peaks, which he thought was fair enough.

Across the table from him was the man Jared had been laughing with earlier. His name card read "Tahmoh," and there was a little cannon next to his name. He stuck out his hand. "Jensen? I'm Tahmoh."

"Nice to meet you." Jensen gestured at the card. "Military blogger?"

Tahmoh picked up the placard and rolled his eyes. "History. Very rarely military. I guess someone watches the History Channel too much." 

Jensen grinned and held up his card. "I guess a backpacker was too hard to draw."

"So where do you like to go?"

They sat down and started chatting. To Jensen's left, Lisa was talking with the woman on the other side of her. To his right, there was a petite, red-haired woman who was talking about art and fashion with Genevieve, who was to Tahmoh's left. On Tahmoh's other side, Jared was talking to the guy next to him. Jensen kept stealing glances his way, but Jared seemed totally enthralled with whatever the guy was saying.

Still, Tahmoh was easy enough to talk to, and the salad course passed quickly. They were being served steak and asparagus when Jensen heard his name being called. He looked up to see Jared beaming at him. "I didn't see you there! How's it going?"

"Good," he said. "How about you?"

"Doing great. This is a blast, isn't it? All of these interesting people, and the food's not bad, either."

Jensen nodded in agreement and started to cut his steak.

Next to him, the red-haired woman spoke. "So, you're a mountain climber, are you? Jensen?"

He gave her a confused look. "No, why would you—oh, right, the name tags. No, I do minimalist backpacking." Her name tag said Ruth, with a picture of a witch's hat on it.

She leaned closer, lowering her voice. "Does that mean you hike in the nude?"

Jensen drew his head back, not quite sure how to respond to that. Ruth grinned and patted his shoulder. "Just messing with you, my dear. I'm sure I can watch your videos if I want any details, hmm?"

He nodded. Gesturing to her name card with his steak knife, he said, "I'm not sure that I want to ask."

"Oh, that's someone who thinks they're funny. I visit sites of spiritual significance to Wiccans and Druids and the like. I've never even worn a pointy hat."

Tahmoh asked about whether they were contemporary or historical sites, and the two of them went off on a conversation. Jensen worked on his steak, happy to sit and let the conversation flow around him. No, this wasn't so bad at all.

He looked up at one point to find Jared's eyes on him. When Jared quickly looked away, Jensen felt a little shiver run down his spine. Maybe it was better than "not bad."

Jared made sure to meet every one of the other bloggers before dinner was over. It was important to check out the competition and to know who was similar enough to him that he had to worry about overlap. It was one thing to watch videos of someone else's trips, but it was something else to talk to them about those trips. He already had a couple of new ideas in mind for places he wanted to go; he'd have to check out his favorite running websites to see if they had any races coming up.

Unfortunately, by the time he finished talking to everyone, Jensen had already disappeared. Jared had to admit that he had been thinking about what it might be like if they walked down to their rooms together, maybe went into one of their rooms together and talked, maybe started doing something else…

But no, that was probably asking too much. Jensen was incredibly good-looking, but he also seemed a little shy, and Jared couldn't expect him to start making out with someone he'd never met before. That was even assuming he was interested in men, which Jared had no way of knowing. 

Still, when he walked down the hallway, he thought for a moment about knocking on Jensen's door. He hesitated, then decided to just go to his own room. They would see each other tomorrow, and he didn't want to come off as pushy. 

Inside his room, Jared put on the cutoff sweatpants he usually slept in and kicked back on the bed, grabbing the TV remote. He was about to turn it on when he heard a voice from next door. "Yeah, Danny, it's me."

It took a second for Jared to realize that Jensen was on the phone. Apparently even though the connecting doors were closed, sound still traveled through the doorway. Jensen was talking about his flight, and the trip up to the lodge.

Then he said, "Yeah, I did. He's right next to me, actually."

Jared sat bolt upright. His finger was on the ON button on the remote, and then he paused. Did he want to hear what Jensen had to say about him?

"Yeah, he's even hotter in person."

A slow smile spread across Jared's face, and he did a fist pump. Maybe Hot Runner Guy hadn't been Danny's name for him, but Jensen's.

"No! God, you're incorrigible. We all had dinner together, and tomorrow are the individual interviews, and then they're going to tell us more about the contest."

Jared bit his lip. He really needed to stop listening to this. But if he turned the TV on now, and Jensen heard it through the wall, would he think that Jared had been listening this whole time? Which he had been, but Jared didn't want him to know that.

"No, I don't know if he's gay. Much less if he's single. Or interested in me."

Jared muttered under his breath, "Yes, yes, and yes." Then he finally gave in and turned on the TV, hoping that Jensen would think he had just arrived in his room and not that he was trying to block out the sound from next door. He flipped through channels until he found a random baseball game and settled in to watch. 

About half an hour later, there was a knock on the connecting door. Jared blinked. Was the TV too loud? Was Jensen making a move? Was he mad that Jared had been listening in?

He hit the mute button and bounded over to the door. Unlatching it, he swung it open to reveal Jensen standing there, shower-wet hair dripping onto his plain grey t-shirt. "Hi!" Jared said, trying to keep from giving Jensen a once-over but completely failing as he took in the way Jensen's legs bowed below his plaid boxers.

When his eyes snapped back up to Jensen's, there was a hint of a blush on Jensen's cheeks. "Sorry to bother you," Jensen said. "Just—the TV's kind of loud through the wall, and I was hoping to get to sleep."

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." Jared was still holding the remote, so he reached out and turned it off. Mentally crossing his fingers, he went on, "I didn't realize you could hear it through the wall."

His sheepish smile seemed to reassure Jensen, who took a step back and started to close the door. "No problem, man. See you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Sleep well!"

"You too," Jensen said absently. 

It was only then that Jared realized he didn't have a shirt on, and that Jensen was staring at his chest. He was momentarily tempted to flex or something, but he remembered what he'd told himself earlier: Jensen was shy, and he didn't want to scare him off. No matter what Jensen had said to his friend on the phone that Jared totally didn't overhear.

So, Jared only gave a dorky little wave and shut the door again.

If it took him a little longer to fall asleep that night than normal because he was fantasizing about other ways that conversation might have ended, well, that was Jared's business.

The morning saw them all stumbling out of bed at different hours. Jared was the first one to the breakfast buffet, no stumbling involved. Ruth was not long after, and then more and more people started trickling in.

Jensen was the last one in, making a beeline for the coffee. Jared watched, almost holding his breath, as Jensen took that first sip. It wasn't as orgasmic a face as he made in his videos, but something about that one sip seemed to wake him up, and when he turned towards the room, Jared grinned. Jensen caught his eye and ducked his head with a smile.

Jared had been talking to Lisa, and now she was looking back and forth between the two of them, a small smile playing around her lips. "What?" Jared asked.

"Nothing," she said. 

He would have pressed her further, but Richard was clapping his hands and calling for everyone's attention, so Jared turned that way instead.

"Good morning, travelers!" Richard gave them all a big wave. "Hope you're enjoying the lodge!" They applauded politely, and he went on, "We've got something special for you today. We have excursions planned to Pikes Peak in the afternoon and then to Denver in the evening. So whether you're into the outdoors or the indoors, there's something for you today."

"What if we want to sleep?" someone called out, and they all laughed.

Richard pointed a finger at where the voice had come from. "That's totally your prerogative. But you'll miss out on some information on what the next stage of the contest will consist of."

"Sneaky," Lisa murmured, and Jared nodded in agreement.

"But first!" Richard went on. "I'm going to be interviewing each one of you this morning for about fifteen minutes. No trick questions, I promise," he winked. There were a few nervous chuckles, and then he went on, "All I want to know is what your blog is about and why viewers should subscribe and watch. Nothing you haven't explained a thousand times to your family and friends. Any questions for me?"

Genevieve asked about how long the excursions would take, and a guy named DJ Jared had only briefly met last night asked if they were going to be filmed during the excursions. Richard gave vague answers, and Jared felt himself frowning. 

He looked over at Jensen, who had come up closer to him and had the same slightly unhappy expression. He caught Jensen's eye and gave a little shrug. Jensen gave him a small smile in response before heading back to get more coffee.

Jared was the first one called for an interview, and it went just as quickly as Richard had promised. In no time, he was back in the breakfast room, grabbing a couple extra pieces of bacon and wondering if he had enough time to go for a run before they headed out to Pikes Peak.

"What did he want to know?"

Jared turned to see Jensen sitting at one of the tables in the sun, nursing his cup of coffee. "Pretty much just what he said. I guess it's the intro spiel that's going to go in the video they make to show off the finalists."

Jensen made a show of cracking his neck to both sides. "All right, guess I gotta explain why minimalist backpacking is the coolest thing ever. One more time."

"It is pretty cool," Jared said as he joined Jensen at the table. "I mean, there are people who go for all the super lightweight equipment, just like in running, right? But to go like you do with so little stuff and figure it out with whatever's on site…that's pretty amazing."

Jensen eyed him over his coffee cup. "You really do watch my videos."

"Of course I do! I even left a comment last time. Er, the time before this one. I've only watched the Colorado one once so far."

Jensen's eyebrows went up, and Jared flushed. All he needed now was for Jensen to find out what Chad's nickname for him was, and Jared's humiliation would be complete.

But there was a small smile curving the corner of Jensen's mouth. He quietly said, "I watch all of your episodes, too."

Jared beamed. "You do? That's awesome! Which one did you like the best?" When Jensen hesitated, Jared rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry. Not that you have them all memorized or anything."

"No, it's okay, I know what you mean. It's like you have all the details of each one in your head, and you know what they're all about, so why doesn't everyone else?"

"Yes, exactly." Jared sat back in his chair, relieved. 

"I know the first one I watched was the one in Detroit. That was pretty cool, that you ran into Canada and back as part of the race."

"Yeah, that was really fun! And up on the bridge and through the tunnel that you can usually only go through if you're in a car."

"It looked amazing. You seemed like you were having a great time even though you were running for, like, an hour and a half."

"You always seem like you're having fun even when you're walking uphill all day with twenty pounds on your back." Jared shook his head, secretly thrilled that Jensen watched his videos closely enough that he knew what his typical race time was. "At least my races are over pretty quickly."

"At least I'm moving slowly enough that I can take lots of footage and only keep the parts where I look good," Jensen said with a sly smile.

"C'mon, I bet you always look good," Jared replied. 

The color rose in Jensen's cheeks as he looked down at the table. Then he glanced up again from under his lashes, and holy shit, that was definitely flirting. Maybe Jensen's friend had talked him in to going for it?

"Jensen Ackles!" 

It was Richard's voice, booming out from the next room, and Jared sighed and sat back in his chair. "Guess it's your turn."

"Guess so." Jensen drained his coffee and tapped the empty cup on the table. "See you for the excursions?"

"Save me a seat," Jared said with a wink, pleased when Jensen's cheeks flushed a little.

Jensen's interview went fine, even if he was nervously jiggling his foot most of the time. He was one of the last people to go; apparently his conversation with Jared had taken up more time than he thought. 

Richard began by asking him how he'd gotten started with his blog, and Jensen relaxed into a question he'd prepared the answer for. "It was for family, actually. I wanted to show them the places I was traveling to with more than just pictures. And YouTube was the first place I thought of to post the videos and share the link with everyone."

"I'm sure our judge from YouTube will like to hear that! Now, this might have started as a personal endeavor for you, but obviously you've kept it going, enough so that you want to do it full time. What made you change your mind about that?"

Jensen scratched the back of his neck. "Honestly, it's the comments. People have said they really appreciate me showing them how easy it can be to get out in the wilderness without huge, expensive piles of gear. I've thought about stopping with the videos a few times, especially after some jerk says something they shouldn't, but every time, there's someone to remind me that people are out there learning from what I do. Or at least watching, even if they don't have any intention of making the same kind of trip themselves. I like that."

"That’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say they benefited from reading the comments! On a different note, tell us about your day job—or is this it?"

"No, I’m a software developer. I work from home, and my company is great about allowing me to bank extra hours so I can take time to do my trips."

"Still, I’m sure all that travel would be easier if it was your full-time job, am I right?"

"Sure, but don’t tell my boss that!" Jensen was pleased to see that get a laugh out of Richard, until he realized that meant it would probably make the final cut. Ugh, he really hoped his boss wasn’t going to be watching this.

After a few more questions, the interview was over. Jensen had to surreptitiously wipe his palm on his jeans before shaking Richard's hand, but all in all, it wasn't as bad as he had expected. Maybe this whole reality show thing wouldn't be so hard after all.

He met up again with Jared before lunch, and even though Jared took care to include other people in the conversation, he never turned his attention away from Jensen. For his part, Jensen was happy to have it; he'd found already that Jared was just as nice in person as he seemed in his videos, and he was possibly even better looking. He'd channeled some of Danneel's bravado this morning and dropped a flirty look at breakfast, and Jared hadn't run away, so that was a good sign. Right?

After lunch, there was a coach bus to take them to the inclined railway that led up to the top of Pike's Peak. The tour guide was full of corny jokes, like how if the train's brakes failed, there were two giant springs at the bottom to catch them: Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs. Jared groaned loudly at the joke, but winked when he caught Jensen's eye. 

The view from the top was spectacular, even if it was cold. Most of them hadn't brought cold-weather gear since it was late July, but once you got up to 14,000 feet, it cooled off fast. Jensen had brought one of his super-light yet surprisingly-warm windbreakers, so he was doing fine, as long as he remembered to move slowly and watch himself for signs of altitude sickness after the rapid ascent. Half the group had already taken one brief walk around the top and headed back to the enclosed tram.

Jared, of course, was asking questions of the tour guide, and Jensen grinned to himself. He kind of wished he was filming Jared right now, the way the wind was blowing his hair back from his face, how animated he was when he talked with his hands. Jensen was pretty sure he could sit and listen to Jared talk for the rest of the day.

Alas, Richard was soon herding them all together for his promised announcement. "I know it's cold up here, so I promise this will be quick. The information I wanted to give you—and it's up to you to share it with anyone who didn't come—is that each of our three elimination events will come in three parts. First, the channel that has added the fewest new subscribers since the start of the competition, combined with the fewest hits on the new video posted in the first round, will be dropped each time."

"When does the competition start?" Tahmoh asked.

Richard's eyes twinkled as he replied, "As of this morning."

There were a few muffled exclamations, and half of the group made a dive for their phones right away. Jensen wasn't surprised when most of them waved the devices around looking for service. Even if Pikes Peak was a popular tourist attraction, it didn't mean you could always get a signal.

"Are we going to get to meet the judges?" Jared asked.

"Not in this round. They will be joining us in two months, though."

"Who are they?" 

"They’re from Netflix and YouTube," Richard replied. Then he winked. "Which I suppose you could have figure out for yourself."

"What are the other two eliminations based on?" DJ asked.

"I'll tell you tonight," Richard smirked.

Jensen just stopped himself from rolling his eyes, knowing that there was a camera rolling nearby. He'd been hoping to skip the Denver part of the trip, since his idea of nightlife was going to sleep under the stars. Maybe Jared would do him a favor and tell him what the second announcement was.

He ended up sitting next to Jared on the ride back, and he asked in a low voice. Jared only grinned at him. "You gotta come along, man."

"No, come on. I hate going out with a bunch of people who just want to drink."

"I promise it won't be like that." Jared patted his leg, and Jensen felt a shiver run down his spine. "And if it is, I'll just hang out with you until they drive us back to the lodge."

Jensen grumbled a bit, but on the bright side, it might net him more time with Jared.

As it was, the bar they were driven to was actually pretty neat. They had lots of interesting local craft beers, and Jensen got into a discussion with the bartender about the Denver beer scene. 

When he was done, Jared was at his side. "Chatting up the bartender, huh?"

Jensen took a long pull on his bottle. Maybe it was the liquid courage, but he asked, "Why, are you jealous?" He glanced sideways to see Jared ducking his head, and he grinned to himself. To make up for it, he said, "No, I try to check out local brews as much as local coffee. Doesn't always make the videos, though." 

"You do like your coffee," Jared murmured.

Jensen flushed. "Yeah, I know. Chris teases me all of the time about how, um, excited I look when I get my first cup in days."

"It's definitely one of the highlights of watching your trips," Jared replied with a sly grin. 

"That so?" Jensen replied, letting his voice go a little lower.

Jared nodded and took a quick gulp of his beer. 

Before Jensen could take any more advantage, Richard was calling them together again. "All right, people, gather round. I know that you’re already scheming and strategizing about how to get more subscribers, but the truth is, anyone could subscribe to all ten of your channels, and what would we learn from that? So during the weekend when we meet up two months from now—in beautiful Portland, Oregon—your fans will have twenty-four hours to get in their votes for you. The contestant with the fewest votes will be the second one eliminated."

Jared leaned closer and murmured, "Wow, who could have seen that coming?"

"And the third person to go will be up to the judges. Popularity with the masses is one thing, but they know best what will sell."

Jared called out, "How do we know what they’re looking for? Are we getting any feedback based on what we already sent in?"

"Not for the first round. They want to see you produce your next video based on what _you_ think shows off your traveling style the best. Trying to fit what you do into what you think someone else will like is not going to produce an authentic show. So just be yourself!"

Jared muttered to Jensen, "That was super helpful," and Jensen had to agree. 

Thankfully, the evening wrapped up not long after that. The bus back to the lodge was fully of lively conversation, and Jensen felt himself relaxing. This hadn't been so bad after all. He was already thinking about his next trip, what he could do to encourage more subscribers and more hits. As soon as he told Danneel, he was sure she was going to suggest that he try the kind of minimalist backpacking that Ruth had suggested, and he was going to have to talk her out of that.

It sounded like Jared, at least, enjoyed the coffeehouse segment. He'd definitely keep that in.

When they got to their respective rooms, Jensen hesitated outside his door. "Do you wanna, I don't know, team up on this?"

Jared cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"We could, like, advertise on each other's blogs. I mean, I don't know how many people would be interested in both of our things, but it wouldn't hurt, right?"

"I don't know if that's the kind of competitive spirit they're looking for," Jared replied with a wink.

"Oh, I'll still beat you in the end," Jensen returned. "But I'd rather hang out with you for the next couple of get-togethers than some of these other folks."

Jared threw back his head with a laugh, and Jensen grinned. "Yeah, fair enough," Jared said. "Besides, you never know, there might be some crossover audience. Two good-looking guys filming their physical exertions and all."

"Fair point," Jensen replied. He dug out his keycard and opened his door. Then he hesitated a moment. Should he invite Jared to come in? What if something happened between them? Did he want something to happen between them? 

When he looked up, Jared was watching him, his own door halfway open. 

Jensen cleared his throat. "Do you, um, want to come in? Talk strategy or something?"

He promptly wanted to beat his forehead against the door for using such a dumb line, but Jared’s eyes were lighting up. "Yeah, I could do that. "

Jensen pushed the door open and stepped back so Jared could go inside. When they were both in the room and the door closed behind them, Jared suddenly turned on him. The bathroom light was on, illuminating his face, but it still seemed like he was looming over Jensen. "I have a confession to make, " Jared said softly.

Jensen swallowed hard, leaning away so his back was just brushing against the door. “What?”

Jared gave him a sheepish smile and ran his hand through his hair. “The door between our rooms doesn’t block much sound. I heard some of your phone call last night.”

"Oh, God." Jensen stared at him, his stomach dropping. He frantically tried to remember what he'd said besides referring to Jared as Hot Runner Guy.

“The answer to all of your questions was 'yes,' by the way." Jared leaned a little closer, gaze briefly dropping to Jensen’s mouth. “I am gay. I am single. And I am definitely interested in you.”

"Oh." Jensen's tone of voice changed dramatically. "You are?"

"Mmm-hmm. The question is, what about you?"

"D'you think I'd have been speculating out loud if I wasn't available?"

A smiled curled the corners of Jared's mouth. "So, it'd be all right if I kiss you?"

"Yes, please," Jensen said, surging forward and grabbing a hold of Jared's biceps as he leaned into him.

He'd been wanting to get his hands on those arms ever since he saw Jared shirtless yesterday and realized the very nicely defined forearms he'd seen in Jared's videos led up to _very_ nicely defined biceps and a magnificent chest that was definitely the next thing he planned on touching. 

That assumed he was ever going to stop kissing Jared, which at the moment was the last thing he wanted to do. God, the man had a good mouth. He was keeping it relatively chaste for a first kiss, and Jensen could appreciate that, but there was something to be said for taking it up a notch.

He teased at the seam of Jared's lips with the tip of his tongue, and Jared almost melted against him, pressing Jensen back into the door as he parted his lips and let Jensen explore his mouth. Jensen slid his hands up to Jared's shoulders and then cradled the back of his head as they kissed, murmuring in approval as Jared's hands started to slide under the sides of his shirt.

The touch of Jared's hands on his skin was like fire, and Jensen shivered. He broke the kiss to wrestle his shirt over his head and drop it to the floor.

It occurred to him that maybe he should ask what Jared was up for, and if he'd already gone too far by taking off some clothing. But then he saw the appreciative widening of Jared's eyes, and then Jared was unbuttoning his own shirt in what looked like a hurry. So, Jensen started at the bottom button, and when they met in the middle, he splayed out his fingers across Jared's chest before slowly pushing the shirt off his shoulders.

Jared's breathing was coming faster, and his cheeks were slightly flushed. His hair was mussed from Jensen's fingers running through it, and for some reason that was the thing that had Jensen reaching for him again, sliding his fingers through that glorious hair before bringing Jared's mouth to his again.

As they kissed, Jared put his hands on Jensen's hips and tugged him forward. With Jared backing up and Jensen shuffling forward, they soon reached the bed, kissing all the while. 

They came to a halt, and Jensen ran his hands down Jared's sides before gently breaking the kiss. "What are you thinking?" he asked softly. 

"That I'm so glad your room is next to mine and I overheard you last night."

Jensen grinned. "Me too," he said with a quick peck. "But I was thinking more…what do you want to do now?"

Jared rubbed little circles against the bare skin right above the back of Jensen's waistband. "I kind of like where this is going."

Jensen did, too, but he still asked, "Where do you think this is going?"

The corner of Jared's mouth quirked up. "I guess you do always plan every detail ahead of time, don't you? Just like you talk about in your videos?"

Jensen rolled his eyes. "It's not that. I just want to make sure we're on the same page."

"I like making out," Jared said, giving Jensen a long, slow kiss. When he drew back, he added, "And I'd like making out naked even more."

Jensen felt a shiver run over him at the thought of seeing the rest of Jared's body, spread out before him. "I could be up for that."

Jared glanced below Jensen's belt and back up, a smile playing across his lips.

Jensen swatted his side. "Ha ha." Then his face fell. "I don't have any—that is, I didn't bring anything with me."

"That's okay. We don't have to—you know. Just, I want to see more of you. If that's okay."

Jared's eyes were wide and sincere, his expression a little bit nervous, and that was what convinced Jensen he wasn't some smooth talker just trying to get him into bed. He took a deep breath to settle the butterflies in his stomach before his hands went to the buckle of his belt.

Jared followed suit, and as soon as their jeans were both puddled on the floor, they were falling into a tangle on the bed. Jared's legs were just as long and lovely as the rest of him, and the bulge straining against his underwear looked like more of the same. Jensen pressed full-length against him, trying to get as much skin-on-skin contact as possible. Their mouths sought each other out, pressing and licking and tasting as their hands roamed over each other's backs. 

They were on their sides facing each other when Jared threw one leg over both of Jensen's. Jensen slipped his leg between Jared's, and their groins were right up against each other, heat sparking all down Jensen's spine. He started licking at Jared's neck, refraining from biting it the way he wanted to since they were going to be in front of cameras tomorrow, but lightly scraping his teeth, at least. 

Jared's arms were tight around him, one hand grabbing most of Jensen's ass at once, and damn, did he like how long those fingers were. He gave a quick roll of his hips as he kept kissing at Jared's neck and shoulder, and Jared used the leverage of his leg to press back against him, almost making Jensen see stars.

"Like that?" Jared asked, arching up against him.

"Perfect," Jensen replied, grinding down against Jared and grinning into his neck when he let out a low moan.

Then Jared slid his hand inside Jensen's boxers, roaming over his ass, and the touch of his hand led to a matching moan from Jensen's throat. He surged forward and claimed Jared's mouth, their kisses turning more and more frantic as they got closer and closer.

Jensen wanted to hold out as long as he could, but Jared's long body felt so good against his, and he was the first one to come, hips snapping against Jared as he threw his head back, mouth opening in a silent cry. 

Jared groaned even louder than before, his thrusts growing more frantic, and then he was grinding up against Jensen and shuddering over the length of his body. 

Jensen stroked his chest for a moment as they calmed down, breathing slowing to something like normal. Jared shifted onto his back and held his arm out to the side. Jensen leaned under it, resting his head on Jared's shoulder, resuming his light touches.

It was a moment or two before Jared spoke. "I might have to revise my nickname for you."

Jensen lifted his head, alarmed. "You have a nickname for me?"

Jared's cheeks were flushed, but it might have been the aftereffects of a moment ago. "Well, my best friend came up with it after I wouldn't stop talking about. Um. How you look when you have your first Red Eye after a backpacking trip."

"I'm afraid to ask."

"Um. Coffee Orgasm Guy."

Jensen stared at him for a moment. "I am never telling Chris about that. Or Danneel. I will never live it down."

"Well, it doesn't compare to the real thing." Jared grinned and gave his ass a pat.

Jensen sighed and put his head down again. "Glad to know I meet your approval."

"You certainly do." Jared's pat turned into a caress before his hand went still.

Jensen closed his eyes, just about ready to drift off to sleep. Then Jared cleared his throat. "Um. Not that this isn't nice, but my flight's really early tomorrow, and I think the shuttle's coming around four, so it would probably be better if I slept in my own room."

"Oh." Jensen raised his head. He'd already been entertaining fantasies of a second round in the middle of the night, or waking up in Jared's arms and barely making it to breakfast for a better reason than just sleeping in. "Yeah, okay."

"Not that I don't want to stay." Jared gave him a light kiss, then a slightly deeper one. 

"No, I get it." Jensen rolled onto his back. "I guess I'll see you online, right?"

"Yeah. Or, um, we could text if you wanted."

"Of course!" Jensen leaned over the side of the bed to fish his phone out of his jeans pocket. "Here."

When Jared had finished entering his number, he gave Jensen another kiss and then got out of bed. "Thanks for inviting me in," he said with a wink after he put his clothes back on.

"Sure thing. Um. Could you…can I ask you something?"

"Of course." 

"Just. Don't tell anyone. I don't want this becoming part of the show or anything."

Jared drew his head back. "Of course not. This is just between you and me."

"Okay. Good." Jensen smiled at him. "Glad you understand."

Once Jared had left, Jensen snuggled down under the covers and prepared to pass out, smiling to himself at the events of the last hour.

This competition was already paying off, big time.


	3. Portland

Two months later

According to Jared's app, Jensen's plane had landed about five minutes ago. The Portland airport wasn't very big, so it wasn't like it was going to take him an hour to taxi to the gate. But Jared had been waiting since his own flight landed an hour ago to surprise Jensen at the gate, and he didn't want to miss it.

Finally, he could see a plane pulling up outside. He'd already asked the gate agent if this was the flight from Dallas, and the app told him he was in the right place, but he was still nervous.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down and stand quietly at the edge of the gate area, out of the way of where people would be deplaning. It wasn't like he and Jensen had talked about being anything more than friends. Sure, they'd been texting almost every day since leaving Denver, and yeah, they'd FaceTimed almost every week, but that didn't mean they were going to hook up again this weekend. 

That didn't mean Jared wasn't hopeful.

Passengers were starting to come down the jetbridge, and Jared bounced a little on the balls of his feet. There were times he wished he wasn't quite so tall, but there were other times it was really useful, like looking for someone at the airport without having to crane his head. He thought he saw Jensen almost right away, but it was a false alarm. Too bad—it would have been fun to tease him about being in first class and therefore one of the first people off the plane.

And then he saw him for real, and Jared felt the grin spreading across his face. He waited until Jensen was clear of the doorway before giving a little wave.

The surprise and delight that broke across Jensen's face sent a thrill through Jared's chest. He beamed back, and then Jensen was standing right in front of him. God, it was like he'd gotten better-looking in the last two months.

"What are you doing here?" Jensen asked, his smile still full of disbelief.

"I got on an earlier flight and got here an hour ago. Wanted to surprise you." He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Jensen, a quick hug that brought him close enough to breathe in the rich, masculine scent that set off a whole series of memories, and shit, he was going to get hard right here in the airport.

Jensen tensed for a moment, and he patted Jared's shoulder as he pulled back. "Well, you sure did." The corners of his eyes were crinkling, and Jared was kind of glad they were out in public so he didn't give into the temptation to give Jensen a kiss.

Instead, he said, "C'mon. Did you check a bag?"

Jensen scoffed. "Did I check a bag? I can go for a week with a knapsack."

"Well, aren't you special?" Jared grabbed his roll-aboard and ushered Jensen to go before him.

They walked down the long concourse towards the exit, talking about their respective flights. Then they talked about what they'd been doing at home before coming here, which they both already knew since they'd been texting about it. 

It wasn't until they were in the taxi headed to downtown Portland that Jensen asked, "So, are you nervous?"

Jared glanced at the driver and then back at him. Were they going to have a conversation about the two of them right here in the cab? "About what?"

Jensen raised his eyebrows. "The competition?"

"Right. Okay, maybe a little. I mean, three of the ten of us are getting eliminated this weekend. I finally managed to get a sponsor for my vlog, and I’m worried they might drop me if I get cut here. And I hate that they decided to make this live, so they can show the agony of defeat on whoever's face."

"Those were the rules when they started this whole process, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Doesn't mean I like it."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, because I've been dreading this since Denver." Jensen shuddered. "Wish they could just tell me I'm not good enough via e-mail."

"C'mon, you're going to sail through. You know how many new subscribers you got after your last video? People loved seeing you in Hawaii."

"Eh, they loved seeing Hawaii," Jensen replied with an easy grin that did strange things to Jared's insides. 

"That valley you hiked to was amazing. It must have been so peaceful."

"It was gorgeous, yeah. Helped that there was no road to it, and the shoreline is too rocky to kayak. The only way in is up and over the 3,000-foot climb from Waipi'o Valley." Jensen shook his head. "Fucking helicopters, though. They can buzz past even if they can't land."

"I don't think I heard any."

"I had to edit them out. I had to take some shots like five different times to make sure it was quiet enough."

"Jensen, are you saying you misrepresented what it's like to actually be there?" Jared asked with his hand to his heart and a mock expression of horror.

Jensen lightly shoved him, and Jared grinned at how well Jensen took his teasing. "I'm putting Waimanu Valley in its best possible light," Jensen said primly. "Like you don't only show the good parts of your trips."

"Hey, I did keep the moment when I tripped while running down the boardwalk in Rehoboth," Jared replied. "Though Chad tried his best to convince me to take it out."

"I thought it was hilarious," Jensen said, eyes twinkling. 

"You would," Jared retorted with a retaliatory push to Jensen's shoulder, and they were still grinning at each other like idiots when they arrived at their boutique hotel in the Pearl District. 

"Did you know that most of this area used to be rail yards and factories?" Jared asked as they climbed out of the taxi.

"Man, and here I thought you'd watched all of my videos," Jensen said.

Jared frowned. He'd made his own trip to Portland a few years ago, but—"Oh yeah, you went hiking in Portland, right? One of your first times?"

"I figured it was best to try the really minimalist style somewhere I could sleep in a bed at night. Besides, the city parks don't allow overnight camping."

"Right, you actually hiked in the city, didn't you?"

Jensen pointed at the hills rising up from the western edge of downtown. "About a mile from here is the start of a thirty-mile hiking trail, forested all the way. It's crazy to have that in the middle of a city."

"Portland's a pretty cool place."

They checked in, and Jared was sad to note their rooms weren't next to each other. He thought about asking the clerk to move one of them, but maybe that would be too obvious. Maybe it had just been a one-time thing last time that only happened because their rooms were adjacent, and maybe he was making a fool of himself assuming something was going to happen again.

There was barely time to drop off their bags before heading to drinks and dinner. As much as Jared wanted to take a moment to talk to Jensen, he knew they were expected at the restaurant. Jared was looking forward to seeing some of the other bloggers again, especially after watching some of their videos in the intervening time. But he kind of wished he could just spend time with Jensen.

"I don't think I'll stay up very long after dinner," Jensen said as they walked down the street towards the restaurant. "It's two hours later at home, and tomorrow's a long day."

"Wonder how much Richard will drag it out," Jared replied. Then he caught on to Jensen's words and said casually, "Let me know when you're heading back, and I'll walk with you."

"Okay," was all Jensen said, but there was a pleased little smile around his lips as he held the restaurant door open for Jared.

It was a Spanish restaurant, with the back room reserved for their group. The tapas dishes made it easy to stand around and mingle as they all caught up with each other. Of course, Jared already knew what most of them had been up to in the last two months, having watched their videos to see how his matched up. There were cameras set up in the corners, but it didn't look like they were recording right now, so Jared relaxed and chatted.

Besides the other bloggers and Richard, there were a handful of people Jared didn't know but could guess were the judges. Sure enough, he was eventually introduced to them: Sam Smith, representing Netflix; Alex Calvert, representing YouTube; and Misha Collins, one of the most well-known travel vloggers who had managed to parlay his experience into a three-season show. 

Richard had told them on their last day in Denver that these were the people who would determine the third person to be cut each round. They had the expertise to determine what would bring in viewers and advertisers, not just hits and subscriptions. Jared made sure to talk to each of them for a few minutes, making it clear that he knew who they were and that he had done his homework.

He kept Jensen at his side, making sure the judges got to talk with him, too. Otherwise, he was afraid Jensen wouldn't go up to them on his own, and Jared was determined to help Jensen stay in this competition as long as possible.

Then the three judged excused themselves, and Jared was free to nibble on delicious food and chat with everyone else. Lisa looked amused to see him and Jensen side by side, but she didn't say anything about it. Jared asked her about her trip to Detroit and the music scene there, she asked him about the half marathon he'd run there, and soon they were happily chatting away.

It took a moment before he noticed that Jensen wasn't next to him anymore. He looked around and finally found him talking to Tahmoh with a glass of cava in his hand. Tahmoh said something with a smile, and Jensen laughed, head thrown back in a way that did not make Jared's gut clench with jealousy.

He looked back to see Lisa smiling gently at him. "You guys aren't together, are you?" 

He shook his head, determined to honor Jensen's request to keep their personal lives out of the show. "We haven't even seen each other since Denver." Which was true, although they had been in contact almost every day since then. 

"Well, Tahmoh's boyfriend made the trip with him, so it's not like you have anything to worry about there," Lisa replied before taking a sip of her cava.

Jared was sure his grin was completely transparent, but he didn't really care.

In a private room in the same restaurant, Sam, Alex, and Misha were sitting around a table, laptops open. "I’m so sorry we couldn’t do this earlier," Sam was saying. "It’s a lot easier when it’s not last minute."

"It’s not your fault your flight yesterday was canceled," Misha said with a reassuring smile. "Besides, all we have to do tonight is the first one, and that’s easy, right?" 

"We also have to select the winner. And that’s not going to be easy."

"We’re lucky this round that the same contestant had the lowest number of new hits and new subscribers," Alex replied. "In the future, it might be more of a judgment call if different contestants are ranked at the bottom of each."

"And with fan voting, we do unfortunately have to take into account that people can be jerks," Sam said. "It may be possible that our contestants who are female and/or people of color will be targeted for downvoting, or conversely, that the white men will get all the upvotes. We’ve got an algorithm running that can detect any suspicious activity, but we’ll still need to review the results. Since we opened the voting at noon today, it will close at noon tomorrow, which should give us an hour or so to review the results and finalize both of our decisions."

"That’s great, but right now we only have about fifteen minutes before we need to be back out there making our announcements."

"But we’re only announcing one elimination tonight."

"We’re also announcing the winner of this round."

"What about this?" Misha suggested. "We each write down the name of the person we think should win, and the person we think should go home, and if the names match up, we’re done. Subject to the voting results."

Alex shrugged. "Seems reasonable to me."

"But we still need to interview all of the contestants tomorrow. It would be better if we didn’t already have our finalist for elimination in mind," Sam said.

"Not necessarily," Misha argued. "If each of us has only one person in mind that we think is the weakest, that will influence each of us as well. If we all have a sense of the pool that’s roughly the same, it should reduce our biases somewhat."

"I’m not entirely sure about that, but it does save us time, if nothing else." Sam fished a notepad from her bag, and a moment later, they were comparing names. 

Grinning, Misha said, "We have a unanimous winner, at least."

"Hers was so much fun to watch," Sam said. "I could easily see a whole series of that."

"But we’ve got three different names for the elimination," Alex said.

Sam pointed at Alex’s sheet of paper. "I would say he was my second choice to send home. I’m not so sure that many people would be interested in watching someone hang out in the woods all day."

"But the scenery is amazing!" Misha said.

"But it would be really hard to get a camera crew into some of those places," Sam replied. 

Misha sat back in his seat. "If you’re worried about watchability, I’d be concerned about this one." He held up his own sheet of paper. "How many shows are already out there on visiting restaurants? And this guy is no Anthony Bourdain."

"Fair point," Sam said. 

"What about yours?" Alex asked. 

"I’m not really sold on a show based on watching someone go for a run. And he throws in a few too many product placements for my taste. There’s acting strategically to get sponsors, and then there’s pimping yourself out."

"So, we tell him to tone it down," Misha said. "We are going to give them some feedback, aren’t we?"

"If they ask for it," Sam replied with a small smile. 

Misha rubbed his hands together. "All part of the test, I see!" 

To his surprise, Jensen was actually having fun chatting with the other contestants. He loved hearing about Tahmoh's trip to Charleston and the many layers of history he'd seen there. "You know, South Carolina is one of the states I haven't backpacked in yet," he said when Tahmoh was done.

Tahmoh cocked his head to the side. "Are you one of those collect-the-whole-set people?"

"All fifty states, yeah." Jensen reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. Apparently Tahmoh hadn't spent time watching everyone else's channel like Jensen had.

"You don't just want to go to the most amazing places regardless of where they are? I mean, there must be hundreds of trips you could do in California, but can you even backpack overnight in Rhode Island?"

"If you walk slow enough," Jensen joked. "No, it started with the goal of finding out-of-the-way places, or on the other hand, to show people that there's always somewhere they can be out in nature without traveling too far from home. I guess I wouldn't mind repeating some states, but I also want to make sure I get everywhere at least once."

"Hmm." Tahmoh took another bite of the _pan con tomate_ on his plate. "I have to admit, I'm a little skeptical when people want to collect places like that. State borders are mostly arbitrary; there's no reason to confine yourself to them."

Jensen took a deep breath. "How do you choose your locations?" 

That led to an easier conversation about their mutual processes of planning their trips, and by the time Genevieve came over and asked them how they were doing, any annoyance Jensen had felt at the criticism was gone.

Of course, then he got annoyed because the others started talking about the video that had been compiled of their meetup in Denver, discussing who had been presented the most favorably and who was clearly not in the judges' favor. 

Genevieve said, "And then there are the people like Jensen who managed to skate under the radar and not get much attention at all."

He shrugged. "I'm not really great at self-promotion, so I tried to keep the interview stuff to a minimum."

She stared at him. "What are you even doing here if you're not promoting your channel every chance you get?"

Tahmoh cut in, "There's different ways of doing that, you know. Especially when we're used to filming ourselves and putting together a video that's just the way we want it, it's hard to hand over that control to someone else."

"Exactly," Jensen said, pointing at Tahmoh with the hand holding his wineglass. "Besides, I hate the part of reality competitions where they try to make up characters based on the contestants. We're real people, doing stuff we really love. That should come through in our work."

Genevieve scoffed. "People aren't voting for us just based on our work. They think they know something about us from our channel and from this show." She gestured around the room. "And how long we stay in the competition depends on how many of them like us."

Before Jensen could reply, Richard broke into everyone's conversation. "Travelers! Welcome to Portland and to On Your Way! Hope you're having a great time and enjoying this wonderful food! Mark, I hope we're not making your next video too easy!"

They all laughed politely as Mark Pellegrino raised one hand in acknowledgment. His theme was food blogging, though from what Jensen had seen skimming his channel, it was only four-star restaurants and above. 

"We have a fun weekend planned for you, including walks along the waterfront and a trip to a real live _volcano_." Richard waited for them to exclaim appropriately before going on, "Don't worry, it's not active right now. Probably."

"Mt. St. Helens," Jensen murmured to Jared, who'd come up alongside him when Richard started to speak. "It's a gorgeous place."

"We'll also do interviews with all of you, slightly longer than last time. The judges want to get to know all of you before they make their decisions about this round tomorrow night."

Jensen exchanged a look with Jared. The same sober look was on Jared's face at the reminder that they weren't here for fun.

"And in keeping with that theme…they have already made one decision. I told you last time that the first elimination would be based on the channel that had the fewest new subscribers since the start of this contest, along with the fewest hits on the new video you posted since we met in Denver. I know subscribers and hits aren't everything, but if Sam here is going to invest in building a show around you, she needs to know you already have an audience."

Jensen found his palms suddenly sweating. He tried not to obsessively follow how many hits he got; it was Danneel who kept him updated on how he was doing relative to everyone else. She had assured him on the way to the airport that he was doing great, in the top half of the ten finalists. But it was a combination of hits and subscribers, and he had no idea how he was doing on the latter.

Richard was winding them up towards the dramatic moment of the cut, with the camera focused on his overly-long pause. Jensen had to refrain from rolling his eyes. He never watched reality shows or competitions because of this manufactured drama, even if it was pretty minor here. He still couldn't believe that he had ended up in one of them anyway.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Richard slapped a palm to his forehead. "The first thing we have to do is announce a winner! The judges have made their selection based on the video they thought had the most potential to draw in new viewers and really show a place and its people in a positive light. This first round—can I have a drum-roll, please—is…Lisa Berry!"

Jensen applauded with everyone else, pleased that her trip to Detroit had caught the judges' attention.

Richard said, “We know Detroit has great history as a music town, but you showed us that its legacy continues on today. Great job, Lisa!”

They applauded again, this time more lightly. Jensen’s nerves were growing, and he was pretty sure that was the case for everyone else in the room, too. 

At the front of the room, Richard had put on a sorrowful expression. "And now comes the hardest part. Every one of you is here because out of the thousands of submissions we received, your channel stood out from the rest. But the judges’ taste isn’t always what the viewing audience is into, and we have to take them into account as well.”

He paused, and Jensen held his breath.

“I'm sorry, DJ, but your channel just didn't get the same hits as everyone else. Some of us loved watching you watch birds, but not enough other people did. We're going to have to send you on your way."

There were a few murmurs around the room, and Mark clapped a hand to DJ's back hard enough to push him forward. "Sorry, man."

For his part, DJ shrugged, glancing at the camera. "Thanks for the opportunity," he said, reaching out his hand to shake Richard's. "It was fun to hang out with all of you guys!"

The cameraman followed him as he walked out of the restaurant, no doubt to have one of those candid reaction shots that Jensen hated. Of course DJ was going to feel bad at being the first one dropped from the contest, but he'd learned something by being here and was proud of what he did and would go on to keep traveling and blogging, etc., etc.

"That's too bad," Jared said. "I don't know that I'm surprised, though. His numbers weren't that good."

Jensen glanced at him. "You keeping track of everyone's stats?"

Jared shrugged. "Just want to know how I'm doing compared to other people. Gotta know how often to tweet and 'gram, you know?"

"How much time do you spend on that?" Jensen asked. "The self-promotion?"

Genevieve piped up, "At least as much time as on the traveling. It's not something you can set aside for certain days, either. If you don't have a constant presence on Instagram, you're not going to get the followers you need."

Jensen stared at her. "I go backpacking for days at a time. It's not like there's cell service most of the places I go."

"You don't have a friend who can post for you?" she asked with an arched eyebrow. "It's not like anyone knows that it's not you hitting 'send.'"

Jensen thought about that for a moment. He was sure Danneel was well-enough versed in social media to handle an Instagram account. "But that's the kind of thing you'd pay someone to do for you, not that you just ask a friend to do."

"Depends how good of a friend they are."

"I have an Instagram, but I only use it every week or so," Jared said. "It's not like you have to be on it every day."

"You do if you want to keep your followers up," Genevieve replied. "People follow you across social media platforms, not just on YouTube. You should give it a shot." 

Jensen shrugged. "I'll think about it."

Jared was looking at him curiously. "How did you tell people they should vote for you today? Did you make a video post?"

He blinked. "How did I what?"

Genevieve raised an eyebrow, and Jensen suddenly realized he'd made a big mistake. The voting was going on until tomorrow, and if everyone else had been rounding up votes from their followers, he was going to have to do the same. If he stayed up late tonight, he could make a short post like Jared suggested. It wouldn't be as high of quality as normal, but this was an emergency.

He was busy thinking about what to say and what he could possibly use for the background as the conversation flowed on around him. A moment later, Jared clapped him on the back and said, "All right, us Texas boys have to get some rest. We'll see y'all tomorrow."

Tahmoh raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Genevieve gave a little wave and said, "Have fun," before turning to Tahmoh.

It wasn't until they were outside the restaurant that Jensen realized it. "We don't know where to go tomorrow, do we? Or what they're making us do?"

"I assume it's interviews at the hotel like last time," Jared shrugged.

The cameraman was walking down the sidewalk towards them, DJ heading off into the distance behind him. "Hey!" Jared said with a wave. "How's it going? D'you know where we're supposed to be tomorrow?"

"I know I'm supposed to be in the hotel conference room at eight to set up," the guy replied. "I think the first interview is at nine."

"Awesome. Thanks so much." Jared shook his hand before coming back to Jensen. "That's not too early, right?"

Jensen shook his head and turned to start walking. "That'll give me enough time for the coffee to sink in."

"You should try one of the third wave shops around here. Bound to be better than what the hotel serves."

"Dude, you think I didn't already look some up before coming here?" He put his hand to his chin and pretended to think. "If only there was someone I knew besides me who had been here before and posted his experience on the Internet."

Jared gave him a light shove. "Shut up, that was one of my first videos. It was terrible." 

"I liked the part where you complained while you were running about how it was raining. Like that came as a surprise to you. In Oregon."

"Maybe I hadn't thought it through yet at that point." Jared stopped dead still on the sidewalk. "I should have deleted that one, shouldn't I? I look like a total moron."

"Nah, it shows that you've grown." Jensen clapped him on the shoulder, and they started moving again. 

He thought about asking Jared for advice about what to say when he asked his followers for votes, but then decided better of it. He had to do this on his own, and he didn't want to just copy off of what other people had done. Besides, Jared probably already thought he wasn't taking this very seriously given his lack of attention to his competitors, and he didn't want to point that out. 

When they got to the hotel and up to their floor, Jared asked, "D'you want to come in for a bit?" 

Jensen's nerves skyrocketed. He'd been waiting for this moment ever since waking up in Denver, to be honest. But that was before the first round of elimination and the reminder that they were here with a job to do.

He scratched the back of his neck. "I do. Really. It's just…I don't know. It's kind of weird, isn't it?"

Jared leaned closer. "What do you think I'm inviting you in for?"

Jensen's stomach dropped. Had he totally misinterpreted—no, Jared was winking at him, and he shook his head with a small grin. "I like you, Jared, okay? I do. But we're competing with each other here, and I've got to go make a video to drum up some votes before I get myself knocked out of this thing."

Jared spread his hands apart. "I can understand that. I could help if you want?"

"No, that's okay." He studied Jared's face for a moment and then leaned closer and lowered his voice. "I'm not sorry about what we did in Denver, in case you're wondering."

"But you don't want to do it again."

"I didn't say that." Jensen ran a hand through his hair. God, this was frustrating. They hadn't said a word about their hookup or what might come next in all the texting and talking they'd done in the past two months, and he wasn't prepared to have to deal with it now. "Look, we'll talk tomorrow, okay? I just want to get this out there while someone's still awake to see it."

"Sure." Jared gave him a small smile and turned to open his door. "Good luck with the voting."

"Thanks. You, too."

Jensen watched Jared go into his room and shut the door. He stood in the hallway for another moment, wondering if he should change his mind and knock. If it was anything like last time, they'd be done in half an hour and he could still get this video done.

He shook his head and started down the hall. He wanted to do this right, not just hook up for the sake of getting off. Better to wait until tomorrow night when he wasn't feeling rushed.

Jensen used the framed photo of Mt. Hood on the wall of his hotel room as a backdrop for his video. It took him half an hour to write out a script he was happy with, and another hour to practice and record until he was happy with the sixty-five second result. 

Then he couldn't fall asleep, worrying about how he hadn't thought to put the video together in the first place—and had admitted as much in front of the competition. He also kept thinking about Jared, and how they needed to have a talk, but how were they going to manage that in a day full of On Your Way events? Was there even anything to talk about? Was Jared just looking for a good time? Was Jensen okay with that?

The next morning, Jared barely made it back from his run and showered in time to get some breakfast. He was still gobbling his bacon and eggs when Richard showed up to escort them into the conference room where the cameras were set up. "This is a little more involved than last time. We want to talk to each of you, but we also want you to talk to someone who's very different from you. See if you can persuade them why they should watch your channel, and vice versa. The public voting ends today at noon, so the more votes you can generate for yourselves in the meantime, the better!"

Jared looked around the room, trying to figure out who they'd decided he was most different from. Probably not Jensen, he sadly thought. 

Sure enough, Jensen was paired with Genevieve. Given their different approaches to social media, and Genevieve's focus on architecture and Jensen's on backpacking, they certainly would appeal to different audiences. He hoped that went well for Jensen, though he couldn't see how either one's followers would be likely to check out the other.

"Jared Padalecki!" Richard called out. "I've got you with Jim Beaver."

He looked around to see an older man raising two fingers in salute. Jared nodded at him. They'd met briefly in Denver, but he couldn't remember what the other guy blogged about. Something outdoorsy, he thought.

They all sat around for most of the morning, drinking more coffee and chatting with their random partners in between interviews. Jared was glad to get a chance to tell Richard—and by extension the judges, who were watching the interviews—more about his trip to Maine and the half marathon he'd run there. "It's one of the very few races where you get to cross an international border during the race. It's really cool."

"I have to say, the scenery was spectacular," Richard replied. "Was it cold?"

"Not in July, no. I don't think I'd want to be there in December, though. Doesn't seem like there's any good reason to be outside then!"

Then he listened to Jim being interviewed about fishing in Colorado and how it was better when it was colder out, at least for getting certain species of fish to come out, and Jared wanted to facepalm. Well, someone had done a good job of matching up two opposites, at least. Jared would play nice and have a friendly conversation with Jim, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to get any additional subscribers from the guy.

Later on, Jared went out to the main lobby to get a coffee refill and found Tahmoh doing the same. "Hey, how's it going?" 

"Fine so far." Tahmoh took a sip of his coffee. "You have a good night last night?"

"Yeah, it was kind of fun at the restaurant, though it's a shame DJ had to get cut. Seemed like a nice guy."

"We're almost all going to get cut before the end," Tahmoh reminded him. When Jared gave a grudging nod, he went on, "I take it you had a good time after leaving the restaurant, too, since you both barely made it down for breakfast?"

Jared nearly spit out the sip of coffee he'd taken. "No, no, it's nothing like that. I just went out for a run, and Jensen always gets up late."

"Hmm. Sorry if I misinterpreted anything."

"No, it's not that. I mean, I guess I'd like there to be something to misinterpret, but there isn't anything right now, and why am I telling you these things?"

Tahmoh broke into a big smile. "I've been told I'm easy to talk to."

"I guess so." Jared gave him a sheepish smile. "Maybe later, though. When there aren't cameras nearby."

"Sure thing."

The morning's activity was a walk along the Willamette riverfront, where Tahmoh told them about the history of the elevated highway that used to run along the edge of the river, Genevieve discussed the skyline of Portland, and Mark went on and on about some exclusive upscale ramen joint.

"Bet the stuff that comes in a cup is better," Jared whispered to Jensen, who had to turn aside to hide his snicker from the rest of the group. 

They were standing at the middle of a pedestrian bridge crossing the wide river when Richard brought them to a halt. "I hope you've enjoyed our downtown tour of Portland as well as our expert commentary." They all clapped politely, aware of the cameras that had been covering the city as they walked but were now trained on them. "Don't worry, we're going to take the light rail back instead of walking all that way. But when we do get back, I'm afraid one of you won't be going any farther on our journey."

"This is the one based on the popular vote," Jensen muttered.

Jared patted his back. "Then you've got this. Anyone who's watched your face when you get that first coffee in days is going to vote you in right away."

"Shut up," Jensen said with an elbow to his side.

When they got back to the hotel, it was Ruth who went inside alone. Jared was sad to see her go, since she'd been fun to hang out with. But he could see that her subject matter might be a little too esoteric for the average YouTuber, much less something to base a TV show around.

Richard was done looking sad for the cameras, and now he held up his hands. "Tonight, we're going to slurp ramen together and talk more about the next trip you need to plan. The first one was entirely up to you, but this will have a big restriction on it. In the meantime…we'll meet at one for the trip to Mt. St. Helens."

"I'm going to Forest Park instead," Jensen murmured to Jared. "I gotta get away from people."

Jared gave him a little wave, hoping he didn't look too crestfallen. "Okay. Um, have fun!"

Jensen bit his lip. "You could come along if you want."

"I don't count as people?" Jared teased.

"Nope," Jensen replied with a small grin.

That little grin warmed Jared to the core. As long as Jensen was still giving him signs of interest, he could be patient.

It took about twenty minutes of walking through the city before they reached a trailhead. Then, within ten minutes of climbing up a hill, it was like they were in the middle of nowhere. "Wow," Jared said as they rounded a curve and saw the trail snaking away ahead of them. "Is this that thirty-mile hike you went on?"

"It leads to it, yeah." Jensen took a drink from his ever-present water bottle and handed it to Jared. "Want some?"

Strangely, it felt like the most intimate contact they'd had since meeting up again, but Jared didn't mind. Also, he was really thirsty. "Thanks," he said when he handed it back.

Their fingers brushed as Jensen took the bottle, and Jared felt that warmth inside of him again. He was going to have to figure out how to talk to Jensen about where things stood between them.

The forest was so beautiful, though, that Jared didn't want to spoil it with what might be an unpleasant conversation. Plus, they were encountering enough other hikers that he didn't want anything potentially awkward to be overheard by strangers. So, they just walked for a couple of hours through Forest Park, up and down hills and around curves and over small streams, taking in the views and enjoying being outdoors.

Jensen led them in more or less a big circle, just a few blocks from where they'd started. As they headed down the steep hill back into town, Jensen said, "You never looked at the maps that we passed, and the only time you pulled out your phone was to take photos."

He shrugged. "Dude, you backpack in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. I figure you know how to read a map."

Jensen barked out a laugh, and Jared grinned at him.

The ramen restaurant they met at later that night was not the one Mark had rhapsodized about, which was probably a good thing since he was the one to be cut. 

Alex said, "We enjoyed your restaurant experiences, Mark, especially since we didn't have to pay the bills." There was a smattering of laughter, and he went on, "But in the end, we felt your videos didn't have the kind of appeal where viewers could imagine themselves making the same trip. And so, we have to send you on your way."

Jensen muttered to Jared, "Guess I'm doomed then."

"Yeah, but you're not a dick like he is," Jared whispered back.

Jensen had to turn around to hide his expression, and Jared smirked to himself at having made Jensen crack up again. 

Mark was taking a deep breath, looking like he was about to say something. He glanced around the room, from the rolling camera to the three judges, and then his expression twisted into something like a smile. "Well. Thank you for your consideration." 

He didn't shake anyone's hand as he stalked out of the room, and Jensen had the feeling that no one was sorry to see him go.

"And now, our next big announcement!" Richard waited until all eyes had fallen back on him. "The first round, we wanted to see where you'd take us. And you chose some really spectacular and fun locations. But this time, we want to push you a bit. This means that your next trip has to take place in a country you've never blogged from before."

"Shit," Jared said. 

"Poor Genevieve," Jensen murmured. "She's already been to like fifty countries."

"I've never been anywhere but Canada," Jared replied. "I don't even know where to look for races in other countries."

"Just go to Canada, as long as you haven't blogged from there before."

"Is that where you're going to go?"

"Don't know yet."

"There are people from all around the world who are going to watch this show," Richard reminded them. "Some of you are already international travelers, and that's great. But some of you need to be motivated to get outside the fifty states."

Alex chimed in, "Because this is a last-minute request and you may have already had trips planned somewhere closer to home, YouTube will pay for your flight. In economy class." There were a few laughs, and he went on, "Our preferred travel agent will be at your disposal, if you need help planning. And to make sure you do cross a border—our next meeting will be in Montreal!"

Jared looked around to take in everyone else's expression. Rachel looked upset, and he couldn't blame her; it probably required more preparation for her than most people to take an international trip. Jim looked pretty disgruntled, too, and Jared recalled him saying in his interview that he stuck close to home with his trips so he could help take care of his grandkids. But Lisa was humming to herself, and Tahmoh looked pleased and deep in thought. 

On the bright side, Jared was already buzzing with ideas for articles he could pitch: what U.S. runners needed to know about racing in another country, or maybe something comic about his attempts to interact in another language. Or both. He couldn’t write about the competition itself due to the confidentiality clause in their contracts, but there were no restrictions on writing about his trips. Maybe this challenge would be a good thing after all. 

After the announcement, Jared lingered to chat with the other contestants and maybe get some ideas from them. Tahmoh wasn't sharing any of his ideas, and Genevieve said she was going to have to do some research first. Jim had left right after the announcement, and Jensen was talking to Rachel on the far side of the room.

"So, how was your afternoon with Jensen?" Genevieve asked.

"It was fun. We went up to Forest Park and took a long walk." He swallowed down the rest of his beer and belatedly asked, "How did you know we hung out together?"

"You were both missing from the trip to Mt. St. Helens," Tahmoh said. "Everyone just assumed."

"Shit." Jared briefly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the two of them were looking at him with concern. "Look, we're not—we're just friends. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea."

"The wrong idea about what?"

Jensen had come up behind him, and Jared whirled around, nearly knocking into him. "Sorry! Um, the wrong idea about my adventurousness if I only go to Canada."

"Depends where you go, doesn't it? Any half marathons in the Yukon?"

"Ha, I have no idea. I should look that up." When he glanced back at Tahmoh and Genevieve, they were giving him knowing looks, but they went along with the conversation, offering their thoughts about where Jared should go. 

When they said good night at Jared's door, to Jared's surprise, Jensen leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I had a good time today," Jensen said quietly.

"It was a pretty awesome date," Jared agreed. When Jensen's eyes narrowed, Jared put his hands on his hips. "Don't you tell me that isn't what that was."

Jensen shrugged. "I just wanted to show you someplace I thought was special. I knew you'd appreciate it."

"I did." He wanted to kiss Jensen back, more of a real kiss, but he hesitated. "D'you want to come inside for a minute?" He held up his hands. "Just to talk."

Jensen hesitated. "I do, but—"

Just then, the elevator opened just down the hall, and Lisa came out. "Well, fancy meeting you here," she said with a smile.

Taking a step back, Jensen lifted his hand in a wave. "Yeah, go figure. I'll see you in the morning, Jared."

He pasted on a smile. "Share a taxi to the airport? You can help me figure out where my next trip should be."

"Sure thing." Jensen smiled warmly at him, eye crinkles and all, and then he was heading down the hallway.

Jared watched him go, his mind half made up to call him back. Then he shook his head at himself and opened his door. Maybe once this contest was over, they could pursue whatever was going on between them. Just a few months, and this would be over, one way or another.

And then he could get something started with Jensen.

At least, he hoped he could.


	4. Montreal

One month later

Jensen had been wanting to try his minimalist backpacking style in Europe for a while, and the extra challenge from On Your Way was the perfect opportunity. He knew even the long-distance hiking trails were never far from small towns or villages, so overnight equipment wouldn't be necessary, or even much in the way of food preparation. It kind of felt like cheating to stay in a bed every night, but he made sure to pick a physically challenging trail to make up for it. The Alpe-Adria trail from Austria to Slovenia to Italy was almost five hundred miles long, so he could only do a few pieces of it, but he thought it would be an unusual enough place that it would set him apart from some of the other bloggers. 

He kept in touch with Jared the whole time, going beyond texting and e-mails to regular phone calls and FaceTime. He was already wishing he hadn't made up his mind to just stay friends until the contest was over. It was obvious Jared was interested in him, and for his part, he could barely stop thinking about Jared and wishing he was there to see everything with him. 

So when he filmed himself talking about the sights he was seeing, from the majestic Julian Alps to the round-domed Slovenian churches to the charming villages he passed through, he pretended that Jared was right there in front of him and he was talking directly to him instead of through a sketchy Internet connection. Watching the footage at night (and he could plug in his phone every night and not have to deploy his solar charger, how weird was that?), he thought he looked more enthusiastic and friendly this time around compared to his sometimes brusque assessments of the terrain.

Or maybe it was just that he was sleeping in a bed and eating real food every night. Although he didn't allow himself a cup of coffee until he was done with the trip, not wanting to jeopardize the visual that Jared said was his favorite part, even if he was blushing as he took his first divine sip.

He also took up Genevieve's idea of an Instagram account, and he found that he really liked being able to post a quick image of something he'd seen that day. He soon realized that was going to shape how he put together the video that he posted: would he include the same images he'd put on Instagram, so that they served as teasers? Or should he include completely different content so that it wasn't repetitive if people followed him across both platforms? Despite adding the Instagram link on his YouTube page, he didn't get a huge number of comments, but he reasoned it was early. 

Jensen returned from his trip invigorated, with three weeks to go to compile his footage into his travel report before it was due. Before the competition started, he had aimed for two hours total, rationalizing that people could always pause and come back to it later if they didn't want to watch it all at once. Danneel had convinced him to break it up into ten-minute segments so viewers didn't have to watch for too long at a time—and so that he could stretch out posting the video and generate more comments along the way.

He got his first video up ten days before they were supposed to be in Montreal, hiding out for the day as usual and refusing to look at the hits. Danneel finally proclaimed she wouldn't let him eat dinner until he had looked at the figures, and he was shocked to see five thousand hits after only a few hours. "That's ten times what I was getting a few months ago."

"People know who you are now, Jen. They've been watching the 'On Your Way' meetups, and they've been watching your videos more and more. You need to thank whoever told you about Instagram, although what I want to know is, why did they succeed in talking you into it when I couldn't?"

He shrugged. "I just thought I'd give it a try."

"Was it Jared?"

"No, it was Genevieve. The architecture blogger."

"Oh." Danneel looked disappointed.

"I listen to other people's advice sometimes, you know."

"Mm-hmm."

"You know it's not going to work when I'm out in the wilderness somewhere," Jensen pointed out.

"So save the pictures for when you're back in civilization and post one every few days. It'll make people want to see the video when you finally get it up."

"That's what Jared said."

Danneel leaned her chin on her hand. "That sounds dirty."

Jensen rolled his eyes. "Nothing dirty to report, sorry to disappoint you."

"But you want there to be."

"Not until after this is over. It's just—they've been doing a good job with the cameras, only recording us for the formal interviews and the excursions, but I don't know. I don't want to become a side plot for the show or something."

"From watching what they air, I don't think they're going for drama. Which bodes well for the show they want to create, really."

"Yeah, that's a good point." Jensen sighed. "I don't know, we never even really talked about it. We didn't get a chance to talk about in Portland, and every time I think about bringing it up now, I decide that it'll be better if we talk about it in person."

"You'll have your chance in a few weeks," Danneel replied, eyebrows waggling.

"Maybe we'll get eliminated and then it won't matter."

"Oh no, you don't." Danneel looked at him sternly. "You're in this all the way, mister. No giving up because you don't want the prize."

"I didn't say I was giving up! Just that it wouldn't be so bad if I did. Of course, Jared's probably going to win the whole thing, so he'll be busy for a while yet."

"You really think he's going to win?"

"You've watched his stuff, right? He's so personable and friendly. He makes you want to be there with him doing whatever he's doing. That's exactly who you want to be leading a travel show."

"Well, I guess you'll see." She bumped his shoulder. "I think you could win, too."

"I guess we'll see." 

Before Jensen knew it, the final weeks passed and he was on a plane to Montreal. This time, he was coming in way earlier than Jared, so he made his way to the city center by himself. It was nice to have the day to walk around and see the old historic city on the river, the modern glass-and-steel city up on the hillside, and to climb Mont-Royal looming over all of it. He got up his courage to try out his rudimentary French at the hotel and in a few shops and was chagrined when the clerks instantly switched to English.

When Jensen got back from the day's excursions, he found that Jared had checked in and left him a message. They were on different floors this time, but they met up in the lobby with a big hug that left Jensen tingling. 

He pulled back, still in Jared's arms for a moment before he let go, and he was struck again at the realization that maybe he'd made a mistake. It was so good to see Jared again, even after messaging with him or talking to him nearly every day. And as they started out on a walk around the city, there was somehow still more to talk about.

Jensen made up his mind. If the opportunity presented itself during this trip, he was going to tell Jared that he'd reversed course. If Jared was still interested. Which was a big assumption on Jensen's part. 

But then, from the way he caught Jared looking at him once or twice as they were walking, maybe it wasn't that big an assumption after all.

"Nice to see all of you again!" Misha said to the other judges as they took their seats around the conference room table. 

"I hope everyone had a pleasant trip," Alex said, shaking hands with each of them in turn. 

"Better than some of our contestants," Sam said as she sat down. "Between Jared blundering along in French and Tahmoh getting questioned by the local authorities, there were some rough patches this time around."

"You have to give them credit for not editing that out, though," Alex said. "I think it makes Jared more relatable, for one. And I liked that he not only asked for our feedback, but put it into practice. He only mentioned his sponsor once."

"Which is good, since he wasn’t the most adventurous this time around. For all that Tahmoh had some difficulties, that meant he was pushing the limits. That’s good to see."

Misha raised his eyebrows. "I can’t imagine you would want a show based around someone who gets in trouble with the authorities for visiting sacred sites without permission."

"That’s what the authorities said," Alex cut in. "According to Tahmoh, it wasn’t a sacred site, but a mass grave that the national government refuses to acknowledge." 

"I do have my lawyers looking into the possible implications." Sam frowned. "But who else made an impressive enough trip to be our winner? Jensen’s trip had some gorgeous scenery, but Slovenia’s not exactly a tourism hotspot."

"I think that’s what made it so special," Alex said. "It’s not a place that’s well-known, even within Europe, and by traveling there, he could generate some interest."

"Same with Genevieve. Azerbaijan is not what comes to mind when I think of architectural hotspots, but she showed me that was wrong. I think she's a strong contender."

"Rachel went the farthest of anyone," Misha said. "And it was wonderful to see her on the beach like that."

"She could have done that here without going all the way to Australia. There are beach wheelchairs in the U.S." Sam held up a hand. "I know. The challenge was to go international. But I feel like she took advantage of the free plane ticket to go as far as she could. It’s not even summer there. She was actually one of my possibilities for elimination."

Alex shook his head. "No way. I think anyone who stretched themselves like that deserves to stay in. It’s the two people who only went into Canada that concern me. That’s getting away with the bare minimum. I know there wasn’t much time to plan, but with travel costs not being a consideration, this doesn’t bode well for their future plans."

Sam pursed her lips. "I can see that. Barring tremendously high scores on the voting or the subscription, you think one of them should go?"

They looked around the table and each nodded in turn. Alex asked, "The question is, which one?"

Jared was thrilled to see Jensen again and insisted on dragging him around the city even though Jensen had already seen some of the sights before they met up with Richard and the rest of the contestants for dinner. Jensen was a little quiet at first, and Jared worried that his big bear hug had been too much. But eventually, Jensen loosened up and started talking more, and Jared realized it was just the initial awkwardness of not seeing each other for so long without ever really resolving what was between them.

Not that he had much hope of resolving it this weekend, either, but he could dream. 

Dinner that night was a North African restaurant that was more upscale than anywhere the On Your Way crew had taken them before. It was nice to have a smaller group than before, even if it reminded Jared that it would shrink further before the weekend was over. Sure enough, they had barely finished their dessert when Richard stood up at the head of the table. "I have to say, you guys really rose to the challenge. Jared ran in a foreign language for the first time right here in Canada, in _Ville de Québec_!"

Jared considered making some kind of a joke about his failure to speak more than a word of French on the whole trip, but he just waved his hand at everyone instead. It wasn't a good strategy to point out where he thought he'd screwed up—best not to bring that to anyone's attention.

"Rachel went all the way to Sydney to go to the beach!"

She smiled from her seat at on Jensen's other side. Jared had watched her video, of course; it was fascinating to see the beach wheelchairs that enabled anyone to get out into the ocean. It was too bad it had been chilly when she visited, but Jared bet that she'd either go back some day, or advocate for similar accommodations to be made closer to home. He'd seen a ton of comments on her video, and he hoped she did well this round.

"And Tahmoh took our challenge to the extreme, visiting Cambodia to tell us about the history of that far-away place."

Jensen was sitting next to Jared, and he leaned over and murmured, "Did you watch his? He really went all out. I bet he wins this round."

Before Jared could reply, Richard went on, "But the best trip, according to our judges, was a mountain journey crossing international borders. Jensen hiked through Austria and Slovenia and made us all want to be right there with him. Great job!"

Jared let out a whoop and clapped him on the back. "All right!"

Jensen ducked his head as they all applauded, then he caught the eye of each of the judges with a mouthed, "Thank you." Jared watched as his cheeks flushed, and that only made Jared beam at him all the more. 

Then he wondered if Jensen had already realized what this meant: he was guaranteed a space in the final four. 

Suddenly, Jared's gut twisted with nervousness. What if he didn't get in? On the one hand, they wouldn't be competitors anymore, and maybe they could finally talk about whatever was going on between them without the show getting in the way. On the other hand, Jensen would be busy preparing for and going on his final trip, so Jared wouldn't see him at all anyway. 

"Unfortunately, we also have to let someone go who did not captivate the viewing audience in the same way. While we've really enjoyed getting to know this person, they weren't able to significantly increase their subscribers after their trip to Canada."

Jared's shoulders stiffened, and he felt his stomach sink. This was it. Jensen was going to be on his own for the rest of the competition, and Jared would be cheering from the sidelines. Not that he wasn't going to put his heart into recruiting followers and subscribers for Jensen, but he still would be sad to—

"I'm sorry, Jim, but you didn't draw in the audience that the others did this time. We're going to have to send you on your way."

Jim grumbled a bit, but he looked resigned. In Jared's quick look around the table, he saw the same flashes of relief on everyone else's face that he felt on his own. They weren't all out of the woods for this round yet, but at least they had another day here.

About half the group stayed around for drinks and to chat. Jared felt the need to unwind after the stress of waiting for the judges' decisions, and he was pretty sure he wasn't the only one. Jensen and Rachel were off to the side, deep in conversation, so he turned to Tahmoh instead. "Did you get any feedback from talking with the judges?"

He shook his head. "They all wanted to hear the details about my run-in with the police. Didn't give me a lot of confidence, I have to tell you. I tried to explain that it was one of the hazards of digging into history in a place where a lot of people want to forget the past. Not sure they went for it."

"I hope they did! I mean, it's great that you're doing something that's actually about the real world and its problems, you know? Me, I'm just going on vacations and showing off about it."

Genevieve had come up behind him as they were talking and said, "I wouldn’t sell yourself short, Jared. Plenty of people just want something fun to unwind with. At least you don't have to worry that you're coming off as too preachy."

"I guess not." He glanced at Genevieve. "That's not something they've said to you, is it?"

"Not in so many words, but they did tell me to de-emphasize the discrimination that women have faced and focus on their accomplishments as architects instead." She paused to take a sip of her wine and then leaned forward, lowering her voice. "The thing is, I'm pretty sure I'm the next one out."

"No, don't say that!" Jared exclaimed.

"It's true. If Jim's subject matter is too esoteric, mine is, too. I mean, come on, is Netflix really going to pay for hours of me talking about buildings designed by women? Not to mention the hate mail and disgusting comments I get are probably playing havoc with the voting process."

"Seriously?" Tahmoh asked.

Jared said, "Ugh, that sucks. I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, well, I can't say I'm not surprised." She let out a big sigh. "At least if I was out, I'd have less of that to deal with."

"But you'd miss out on a great opportunity! You could reach a lot of people with your own show, not that you don't reach plenty of them now. Don't give up yet."

Genevieve glanced at Jared. "Don't you want to win?"

"Well, yeah. But I kinda wish everyone could win."

"Oh my God. You really are the too-good-to-be-true guy from your videos."

Tahmoh chuckled, and Jared asked, "Sorry?"

"Oh, I don't mean that in a bad way. Just, you seem like the nicest person in your videos, and I guess you're like that in person, too."

Jared frowned. "Does that mean everyone else is faking it?"

"No, just that some of us might put on a persona when we film that doesn't match up with how we are the rest of the time." Genevieve nodded towards Jensen, still talking to Rachel. "Others of us seem just as genuine in person."

"Are you saying Jensen's not genuine?"

"I think what she's saying is that some of us are a little different in person than we are in our videos," Tahmoh interjected. "Not that that's bad."

"I guess so."

Genevieve looked at him over the top of her wine glass but didn't say anything. A moment later, Richard came up to them and started talking about the great day they had planned for them tomorrow, and Jared smiled and listened as actively as he could. Whether it was genuine or not, he was going to play along.

The stragglers at dinner finally walked back to the hotel as a group—without Jim, who was still being interviewed about his loss, and without the judges and a few of the contestants. Jensen was surprised when Genevieve dropped back to walk with him. "Glad we made it through," he said as a conversation starter.

"I can't say I'm surprised it was Jim who was cut," she replied. "I don't know that the kind of people who are into fishing and outdoorsy stuff are big Netflix bingers." She glanced at him and then quickly said, "No offense."

"No, it's fine. I always assume that the people watching me don't actually backpack much. Otherwise, wouldn't they be out there doing it themselves?"

"Maybe they're looking for inspiration. The judges certainly seemed to think you were inspiring enough."

"Yeah, I wasn't really expecting that," Jensen replied with a small laugh. "I would have gone with Tahmoh for the big trip to Cambodia. Or you, going to Azerbaijan. I would have thought that would have garnered more attention from the judges."

"It makes me wonder if they haven't already made their minds up. Gotta get someone attractive if they're going to be on camera for a whole season, right?"

"You think they've been picking off the unattractive people?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "It's not just about watchability with regards to the scenery, you know."

"Well then, you don't need to worry about elimination any time soon," Jensen replied with a friendly smile.

"Thank you," she said. She hesitated a moment and then said, "You and your boyfriend are probably going to be in it to the end, though."

"Not my boyfriend," Jensen muttered.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I just thought—you seemed close, that's all."

"No, we're good friends. I mean…" He sighed. "The timing's not good, that's all."

"But you _want_ him to be your boyfriend." Genevieve's next glance was a little more calculating.

"Maybe." He hesitated for a moment and then went on, "Look, I don't want to mix it up with the show, all right? I don't want it to be part of the drama or anything." He made jazz hands as he said "drama," glancing up at Richard, leading the group down the street.

"It's all right, I totally get that."

Jensen followed her gaze and saw Rachel wheeling her way down the sidewalk next to Jared. "Oh."

"What, 'oh'?"

"I'm going to guess I'm not the only one trying to keep some drama off-screen."

"There's nothing to talk about." Genevieve gave a toss of her head.

"Sorry," Jensen said, his stomach sinking. "I didn't mean to pry."

"No, it's not that." They walked along quietly for a while, hanging back from the others. Finally, Genevieve said, "We talked a lot after Denver. On the phone and eventually over Skype. She's…she's really nice, you know?"

"She seems great, yeah. I really admire her for going out and doing as much as she does, and for trying to educate the rest of us while she's at it."

"Yeah. It's a pretty powerful vlog, and I hope she makes it to the end." Genevieve sighed. "The thing is, it really takes up all of her time. And her energy. And that was _before_ this stupid competition."

Jensen's stomach flipped around again, this time because of the warning it seemed Genevieve was giving him. "What do you mean?"

She glanced at Jensen. "Look, it's great that we're all getting along so well, and that there's no drama." She imitated his jazz hands and went on, "But in the end, whatever our personal lives might be like offscreen, we're all here to win this. And anything else is going to take a back seat to that."

"She doesn’t want to start anything while the show is on," Jensen guessed.

"Frankly, I'm not sure she ever will. Whether she wins or not, she's trying to make this a full-time gig. And that's a lot of time and effort that can't go to other things. I should know. I've been doing this full-time for about a year now, and it doesn't leave much time for socializing. I don't know what your long-term plans are with the blog, but it's something to keep in mind." 

They both fell silent. Finally, Jensen said, "I guess I hadn't realized that. I'm sorry about Rachel."

She gave him a wan smile. "Thanks. Just…take care of yourself, you know?"

He tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"I think it's great that you don't like their attempts to personalize us, or what was it you said, turn us into characters for a show? And I know you're not watching the videos they cut of these weekends, which is probably a good thing."

Jensen drew his head back. "I thought you said they didn't have much to say about me."

"They didn't. But they've had a lot to say about Jared. Really played him up as a competitor who was determined to win and to make this his full-time job one way or another."

Jensen tried a smile. "I know that's what he wants to do. Even if he doesn’t win, he's hoping to get some more sponsorships."

"And then what? When does it stop? It takes a lot of work to keep this up, much less expand it into something more."

_One more thing to add to the list of things we never seem to get to talk about_ , Jensen thought. "Like I said, it's not something we're going to talk about until the show is over. But I appreciate your concern."

"All right." She eyed him dubiously. "Good luck."

He walked her to her door and considered tracking down Jared. When he texted him, the response he got was, _Hotel bar with Tahmoh. Join us?_

Jensen made a face at his phone. _Had to people all day and gonna have to tomorrow. See you in the morning._

He got a smiley face in reply and headed to his room. That left them with tomorrow night to talk. Or whatever.

The next morning, they gathered after breakfast for a trip up Mont-Royal. Yesterday, Jensen had gone up the shorter, dirt trails that shot straight up the hill, but today they took the paved path that wound back and forth through the trees. Rachel managed the gradual but steady slope on her own, the group matching her pace.

When they got to the top, the city skyline was right in front of them, just below where they were standing. "This is so cool," Jared said. "To have this kind of outdoor experience right here in the city."

"They have a race up and down this hill in October," Richard said. "You should come back for it!" 

"Nope, already knocked Quebec off the list. Now that I have to visit all of the provinces as well as all of the states, I've got to plan my trips carefully."

Tahmoh looked like he was going to say something, but he caught Jensen's eye and fell silent. Jensen wondered if he was remembering their conversation early in the competition about how they chose the places they visited, and that maybe it was better to just let people do their own thing.

At Richard's signal, Lisa launched into a short discussion about the Montreal Jazz Festival and its influence on music not only in the city and in Canada, but around the world. Then Rachel talked about the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and their long-term effects on the city, as well as how the Paralympics were still held separately at that time and so there weren't the improvements for people with disabilities that one might expect. Jensen noticed that given the public setting they were in, more than a few people gathered to hear them talk. He hoped Richard wasn't going to ask him to deliver a soliloquy about the next place they visited; that would be terrifying.

It had finally sunk in last night, after getting back to the hotel, that he was in the finals. No matter what happened with the next two eliminations, he was set. And that terrified him. He hadn't honestly expected to make it this far, so he hadn't really thought through the ramifications. What if he actually ended up making a TV show? Should he bow out and give it to someone else who was more suited to the task?

Jensen also realized that despite his earlier resolution, he was going to have to postpone anything with Jared for a while longer. Even if the crew interviews hadn't delved very deeply into their personal lives, he could imagine that it would be hard to resist highlighting the story of two contestants falling for each other. 

And then there was what Genevieve had told him about Rachel. Of course, Rachel and Jared weren't necessarily the same, but Jared _was_ trying to make his vlog full-time the same way she was, and he'd certainly given plenty of indications that he was competitive. Maybe Jensen was going to have to let him go for now, as hard as that might be.

Once Richard said they would be heading back, Rachel suggested she and Jared race back down the hill, and Jensen watched them zoom off into the distance. 

Lisa came up alongside him as they started downhill at a more leisurely pace. "How's it going?"

"Good! I saw your video from Buenos Aires—that looked pretty amazing."

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Everyone thinks of the tango, so it was fun to learn a bit about the other styles of music they have there, and to show them off to the rest of the world. How about you—why Slovakia?"

"Slovenia," Jensen corrected. "I don't know, it seemed like a place most people wouldn't be that familiar with, and I kind of wanted to stand out. For once."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I usually try to stay in the background and let the music speak for itself, but I felt like I had to be more visible this time."

"What this contest is doing to us," Jensen said with a mock sorrowful shake of his head. 

Lisa laughed. "Don't worry, it'll fade soon enough. Two more of us are heading home soon, anyway."

"I don't like thinking about that."

"Oh, I know. And I always wonder if there's someone behind me with a camera wanting to get my 'honest assessment' of the other competitors." Lisa snorted. "Honestly, I think everyone here is great, and the stuff they blog about is interesting, and Netflix would be well served picking up all of us for a show."

"Amen," Jensen replied. "Maybe when Jared wins, he can have us each on one of the episodes or something."

She glanced around as if to make sure no one was in earshot before saying, "You and I should have the best odds, given that we've each won one round. Why do you think Jared has it in the bag?"

Jensen shrugged one shoulder. "He's so personable. It really comes through on the camera. He's just the friendly kind of person you would want hosting a show like that. The audience will love him."

"Hmm." They walked on for a moment, and then Lisa said, "So you're thinking that since you fell for him on the Internet, everyone else will, too?"

"It's not that." A moment passed in silence, and then Jensen acknowledged, "I mean, yeah, I might be biased."

"I was talking to Jared yesterday, and he said that you guys were putting things on hold until after the competition was over. What if one of you wins?"

"He told you that?"

"Not in detail." She gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, I know how to keep quiet about things. He mentioned that you didn't want any kind of relationship between you to become part of the show, and I can totally understand that. It's stressful enough as it is."

They walked on in silence for a while. Jensen had been upset when Lisa first mentioned it to think of Jared talking about their relationship—or lack thereof—to the other contestants. But then again, he'd said a few words last night to Genevieve when she asked about it, and was talking to Lisa about it right now, so he could hardly blame Jared. 

Of course, that meant that at least half of the people on this stupid show were probably talking about them behind their backs when there wasn't even anything to talk about. Jensen could only imagine how much worse it would be if he and Jared were in any sort of a relationship, especially if they acted on it under everyone's nose.

He took a deep breath. "If one of us wins…I don't know. I guess whoever it is would probably be too busy."

"Or you're worried you won't be the only one to fall for him through his videos. And with a much larger audience watching…" She trailed off. Her tone was gentle, but her words still stung.

He gave her a pained smile, thinking, _No, I hadn't actually thought of that, but thanks very much for bringing it up._ "Look, I appreciate you listening, but I don't know if it's anyone's business but ours." 

Lisa spread her hands wide. "Fair enough. Can we talk about last night's dinner instead? Because that was absolutely amazing."

"Yeah, Jared said he'd never had anything like it," Jensen replied, and then he had to smile at himself. Couldn't even get Jared off his mind for two minutes, could he?

What was he going to do if Jared won the competition and got too busy to pursue anything with him? 

Jared had fun on the day's trip through Montreal, including a visit to the Olympic Museum, but he couldn't help but be nervous by the time dinner came around. He'd traveled the shortest distance of any of them with their international assignment. Even Jim had gone to northwestern Canada. That meant Jared was worried that either the audience or the judges would penalize him for it. Jensen had told him a hundred times not to worry about it, but he couldn't help it.

He'd been so proud of Jensen winning this round. For someone who didn't like the spotlight, he was great in front of his own camera, and the audience seemed to agree. He'd confessed this morning to Jared that it had finally hit him that he was in the finals, and Jared couldn't help but give him another big hug.

That night, they stayed in at the hotel, enjoying a so-called Canadian dinner in the hotel restaurant that didn't seem all that different from U.S. Midwestern food. "At least they could have served us poutine," Jared muttered to Jensen as he cut into his steak.

"We'll go out tonight and get some later," Jensen said. He put down his fork long enough to pat Jared's stomach. "Besides, too much of it will slow you down for your next run."

"I wonder where it's going to be," Jared said, trying to ignore the little thrill that ran through him at Jensen touching him so casually. "Richard didn't say anything, did he? When Rachel and I took off?"

"No, he was just smirking like usual."

"There's got to be some extra challenge again. I wish Sam and Alex came along on the visits; I could chat them up or something."

"Not Misha?" Jensen asked.

"I know he's one of the judges, but I don't feel like he has the decision-making power that the other two do. I mean, he knows about being a travel blogger, but so do all of us. Alex and Sam are the two who know about what's going to work as a TV show. They're the ones we really have to impress."

"And what have you been doing to impress them?"

"Can't give away all my secrets," he winked.

He realized too late that he'd brought the competition back into their friendly conversation, but to his relief, Jensen only grinned in response. 

Dessert was something Jared hadn't had before. He had to give the Canadians credit, a Nanaimo Bar was definitely worth keeping to themselves, with the three delicious layers of chocolate, coconut, and creamy vanilla. He would have had two except for the promise of poutine later.

A few minutes later, Richard started, "Ladies and gentlemen. I hope you've had a lovely time here in Montreal. I wish that all of you could stay with us to try the best bagels in the world tomorrow morning, but alas, one of you is about to be sent on your way."

Under the table, Jared reached over and drummed his fingers on Jensen's kneecap. Jensen shot him a quick look but didn't say anything.

"In this part of the round, we base our elimination on fan voting. As you know, given the flurry of tweets and posts you've been sending out, we opened up the voting twenty-four hours ago, and we closed it just before dinner. I'm sorry to have to say this, but the person with the least votes this time around was….Genevieve."

She looked crushed for a moment, then lifted her head, aware of the camera and everyone's eyes on her. "Well, at least I had a fun day. And now I can see whatever I want to tomorrow in this beautiful city!"

She rose from the table with a little wave for everyone, glancing at Jared as if to say, "I told you so," before the cameraman followed her out into the hallway.

Jared slumped back against his chair. He caught similar expressions of relief from Tahmoh and Lisa. It was strange to think about everyone being nervous for the same reason. Well, everyone but Jensen, at least this time around. 

Or almost everyone. Rachel was still looking where Genevieve had exited the room, looking as upset as if she had been the one to be cut. 

"And now, we have a special announcement for you guys! The challenge went so well last time that we thought we'd try another one." Richard grinned and gestured to Alex. 

Alex rose from his chair and beamed at all of them. "Last time, we asked you to vlog from a new country, and you rose to the challenge. This time, we're asking you to step outside of the box in a different way. All of your channels focus on _your_ trips: you and the places you go. This time, the location is completely up to you, but you have to take another person along with you. We want to know that you can bring someone else into your world, can make them see the same things that you see when you travel to these different places. If you can do that one-on-one, we're confident you can do it through the screen."

Jared's mind started racing. Chad would be too abrasive for most viewers, and he couldn't run as fast as Jared anyway, or for as long. That left out most of his friends, come to think of it. Who could he—

Beside him, Jensen muttered, "Fuck."

Alex was going on, "You have two months once again, and to help you out, your travel _and_ that of your companion will be paid. At the end of that time, we'll meet up in Los Angeles. Following that, the winner will be set up with our staff and Sam's to get their new show started!"

They applauded politely, but Jared was lost in thought. He'd almost forgotten—with the multiple eliminations they did, given how long it took each of them to put together a video, there was only one more round. Whoever was left standing at the end of that, based on the trip they started planning right now, would be the winner. And one more person was going to be cut here in Montreal, meaning if they started planning right now, it could all be for nothing.

It was the obvious topic of conversation when he and Jensen went for a walk after dinner, looking for poutine. "Who do you think you're going to bring?" Jared asked.

"I have no fucking idea. The whole point of the way I backpack is to do it with barely any equipment. And I started sharing my trips as videos with my friends and family because I knew none of them would ever come along. How do I teach someone else how to do that in a month?" Jensen shook his head. "I might as well ask the judges to send me home tomorrow."

"No, don't say that." A thought struck Jared, and he wanted to smack himself for not having thought of it before. He grabbed Jensen's arm and brought him to a halt on the sidewalk. "What if we went with each other?"

Jensen stared at him. "Have you ever been backpacking?"

"Nope. Which means I don't have any bad habits to unlearn."

"I don't know, Jared. It's not just about equipment, it's about safety. If you don't hang your food right, the bears might get you. If you don't do the right things to stay warm, you're putting yourself in danger."

"I'll do whatever you tell me. We can go somewhere warm and without bears. And c'mon, I've watched all of your videos, I have _some_ idea of what to do. I can rewatch them and cram on the flight home."

"You really want to do this?"

"Yes! It'll be fun! And the judges will eat it up. Two competitors working together, being good friends—it'll sell."

"Hopefully not too well. One of us has to be the winner, after all."

Jared was taken aback until he saw the teasing gleam in Jensen's eye. "What if it's someone else? Lisa or Rachel?"

Jensen shrugged. "That'd be fine. I don't know that I really want to have a TV show about me anyway. Here I am freaking out about one person coming along with me, and they'd need to have a whole camera crew tromping through the wilderness."

"Eh, I'm sure they'd figure something out. Besides, you're the second best-looking one of us, so you have that in your favor."

"Yeah, Tahmoh is awful nice to look at." Jensen grinned slyly, then dodged out of the way when Jared pretended to swat his shoulder.

Something else occurred to Jared, and he grabbed Jensen's arm again before they could start walking again. "You do want to do this, right? You're not just saying it to be nice?"

Jensen paused, brow furrowed, while Jared's heart thumped in his chest. When he finally spoke, he said, "It would be a cool twist on the competition. And I think we can pull it off. Just…" He trailed off and sighed.

Jared's heart was pounding almost painfully. "What is it?"

"We haven't talked about…" Jensen trailed off and gestured back and forth between the two of them. "You know."

"We can just make out in your tent once we stop filming." When Jensen frowned at him, Jared gave him a smile that was only slightly forced. "Look, I understand. You said you didn't want to get it mixed up with the show, so we're waiting until after the finals. Right?" 

"Yeah, but…" Jensen looked up at him, the streetlights catching the worry in his eyes. 

Jared's heart sank. "But what?"

Jensen shook his head. "Nothing. Let's just find some poutine, yeah?"

"Jensen, please. If we're going to spend the next two or three months together filming our trip, we can't have any problems between us."

"Yeah, you're right." Jensen scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Can we just focus on that? Plan the best trip that we can, produce the best videos that we can. And may the best man win."

"Or woman," Jared said automatically. Then he gave Jensen a wan smile. "No making out in the tent. We'll wait till the final round is over."

"There's no tent. That's the whole point," Jensen muttered, but he looked relieved. 

The poutine was just as delicious as promised, but Jared couldn't let go of a nagging worry about Jensen's reluctance to even talk about the possibility of a relationship. He tried to push it aside as they talked until the late-night restaurant closed, going on about where they should go and what they should do there.

"Can you change your thing so we just do a 10K?" Jensen asked. "I don't think I've run farther than that in my whole life."

"Dude, you walk up and down mountains for eight hours a day. I think you can run for an hour and a half. We've got to do at least a half marathon so I can show that I can successfully bring someone into running, the same way you're going to show me how to backpack."

"I don't know. If we're going to do this, we need to combine trips or we won't have time to train for the trip before and edit our videos after. It has to be somewhere we can go backpacking and run a race within a few days. But I don't want to be so wiped out from running that I can't hike."

"And I don't want to be so tired from climbing a mountain that I can't run." 

Jensen sighed. "Maybe this wasn't the greatest idea."

"Maybe it just means we'll have to make it a longer trip. Like, we get there a few days early, we run, then we take a day to recover and then a couple more to see the city or wherever it is. Then we can go to wherever the backpacking's going to be. I think that'll be harder on someone who's not used to carrying all their stuff all day than the running will be."

"I don't carry much stuff, Jared. That's the whole point."

"Yeah, but you probably won't have to take more than a day to recover from running. Two, tops. You're already in good shape."

"All right, so that's two days when we get there, one to run, two to recover. Then I usually do three days: one day in, one hanging around the campsite or nearby, and one day out."

"Plus travel, that's probably ten days." Jared frowned. "Can you take that much time off?"

Jensen waved one hand in the air. "As long as I make up the hours before or after, I’m good." 

"So where should we go? It's probably too cold already for the mountains, right?"

"Up north, yeah. I haven't been to New Mexico yet; that should still be okay. Or Utah. Although we'll have to watch the elevation."

"I could check that out. What about farther east?"

"I'm gonna have to look up my list of states," Jensen said. "No way I'm repeating a state just for you."

But there were crinkles at the corners of his eyes as he said it, so Jared grinned in response. "Back atcha."

The next morning, they traveled as a group to the two different bagel shops for which Montreal was known. Jensen was amused to see Jared proclaim for the cameras that the first one had the best bagel he'd ever had in his life, and then do the same thing for the second one. 

Jensen tried to avoid the two cameramen who were traveling with them as much as he could without being obvious. He was sure Richard wanted a few words from him about how he felt having won this challenge, and he had no idea what to say. He was grateful to the judges, of course, but he didn't want to sound like he was sucking up to them. 

He was also kind of worried they were going to ask about him and Jared, given that it seemed like all of the other contestants had noticed them spending time together. When they'd gotten back to the hotel late last night—or early this morning—Richard and Alex had been at the hotel bar. They'd waved as Jared and Jensen went past, and Jared had called out something about getting poutine before they escaped upstairs to their respective rooms.

Now, they were stopping in a small square after they were done with their bagels, setting up for what was clearly the final elimination announcement. "At least we're right by a subway station, so whoever it is can find their way back to the hotel," Jared joked, glancing around as the cameras were put in place.

"You'll be fine," Jensen said in a low voice. "Don't worry about it." He almost reached out to put a hand on Jared's shoulder, then decided against it in case the cameras already were rolling. 

"Why, did you hear something from Richard?"

"No, but you've got this, Jared! You're so fun to watch, and such a nice guy, everyone already wants to travel with you. No way the judges would turn you down."

"They're gonna have to at some point."

"Not if you win it all."

Jared scoffed. "As if."

Before Jensen could call him out for that, Richard cleared his throat. "All right, here we go! You've eaten some good food, you've gotten to see more of the beautiful city of Montreal, and you don't want to listen me stand here and draw it out. Soooo…The judges have made their decision, based on their understanding of what will make a good, compelling show to draw in the largest possible audience. With that in mind…I'm sorry, Tahmoh, but as much as we enjoyed your deep dive into history, the judges felt your subject matter got a little too serious for the kind of show they want to put together. So we're going to have to send you on your way."

Tahmoh raised a hand, giving them all a sad smile. He got a hug from Jared, and then Rachel pulled him down into a hug as well. Jensen clasped his hand and thumped his back, and then Tahmoh headed off into the subway with a little wave over his shoulder. One of the cameraman followed him, while the other stayed to film their reactions.

"It's harder now," Jared said as they watched Tahmoh go. "Now that we know each other more. It's like saying goodbye to friends and not competitors."

Jensen was about to agree when Richard spoke again. "You know what this means for the rest of you, right? You are the final four! You're it!"

Jensen saw the huge smile breaking across Jared's face as the realization hit him, and he couldn't help but grin in response. Jared immediately wrapped him up in a bear hug, which Jensen happily returned, camera be damned. Then Jared went around to hug Rachel and Lisa as well, and even Richard, because that was just who he was. 

On the subway ride back to the hotel, Jensen leaned closer to Jared to be heard over the rattle of the train. "It's true what you said about watching people go. At the beginning, I was kind of glad to see people leave, because it was easier to keep track of everyone. But for a while now, I've wanted everyone to win."

"Everyone will still have their own channel, right? I mean, people are going to keep producing their own stuff."

"I don't know," Jensen replied. "I'm not sure I would."

"Really?" Jared turned towards him. "You don't think you'd keep taking your backpacking trips if you didn't win?"

"No, of course I'd still take the trips. Just, I don't know. I'm not sure I'd go to the effort of making the videos. I guess my family would still like to see them, but I could send them privately."

"But you'd still be doing it if this contest hadn't come along. So, what's different?" 

Jensen scrunched up his nose. "Kind of embarrassing, I guess. That everyone would know I'd tried and failed."

"Well, we are not going to fail. We're going to have the most awesome trip the judges have ever seen, and then they'll have to pick you."

"Pretty sure they'll pick you," Jensen replied.

"Nuh-uh. You already won a round. You're a shoe-in."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. I bet it's you."

Jared narrowed his eyes. "We'll see about that."

Jensen chuckled. "Bet this is not the kind of competition they had in mind when they set this up."

Jared leaned even closer so he was speaking right into Jensen's ear. "What if we tried something else? If we don't do such a great job, then we're out, right? And Rachel or Lisa would win."

Jensen thought about it for a moment. He couldn't say that it hadn't crossed his mind as well. No pressure to worry about for the finals, and he wouldn't have to be nervous about what a TV show might be like.

But that wouldn't solve anything regarding Jared—he'd presumably still be trying to make his own channel into a full-time occupation, which would still mean he'd be extremely busy. Too busy, if what Genevieve had said was true.

He noticed Richard watching them closely, and he shot him a quick smile. "Later," he said to Jared, inching away from him in the process.

They took a walk around downtown once they got off the subway. "What do you think?" Jared asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the rest of the group.

"You're talking about throwing the competition."

Jared frowned. "When you put it like that, it sounds a lot less savory."

"I can't deny it's an attractive option in some ways. But I just—I don't want to do that. If I'm not going to win this thing, I want it to be fair and square."

"Okay." Jared let out a breath. "Good. I'm glad you said that."

"Then why did you ask?"

"It just crossed my mind. I say a lot of things that just cross my mind, you know."

"I've noticed," Jensen said wryly.

He got an elbow to the ribs for that one, but he only grinned. "C'mon. You've got a few hours till you have to leave for the airport, right? And my flight's not till after dinner. We can settle on where we're going to go."

"You don't think we have to, like, get permission from the judges or something? To work together?"

"We're still going to post our own videos, right? There's no reason to think they'd object to that. Besides, I'd kind of like to surprise them with this."

"Okay." Jared grinned. "It'd be hard for them to say no after the fact, anyway."

"And if they do, then Rachel or Lisa win." Jensen shrugged. "But I'm going to do my very best here. Sorry if that means you don't win."

Jared shot him a sideways glance, but all he said was, "All right, then where are we going to go?"


	5. Utah

One month later

"I still think we should have come out a full week early to adjust to the altitude," Jensen grumbled, adjusting his Camelback one more time.

"The first half of the race is entirely downhill," Jared retorted, as he had every time Jensen brought up the fact that the start of the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon in southern Utah was over nine thousand feet above sea level. "You'll be fine."

"Hope you don't have to wait too long for me at the end," Jensen joked. 

"Nope. Because I'll be right beside you the whole way."

Jensen gave him his most saccharine grin, and Jared guffawed. Then he flicked off the GoPro strapped to his chest. "Seriously, Jensen. The point is to do the thing with you, not finish the thing and wait for you to catch up. The judges wouldn't like that very much."

"Right, it's for the sake of the judges."

"Besides, this way I'll have lots of chances to film you as you're running along. It'll be great for other people who are considering running a half marathon to see what your first time is like."

Jensen raised an eyebrow but didn't take the obvious bait. There were plenty of other people milling around here at the start line, and it was way too early in the morning to be dealing with innuendo like that anyway.

Instead, he yawned and took out his own phone. "My turn to do a starting line selfie."

He made Jared join the photo, then made him try again when it turned out he had given Jensen bunny ears. Then he flipped on the video function and said, "Good morning from the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. It is…before sunrise in the middle of July, I have not had any coffee, and that's just not okay."

"Ten minutes till the start," Jared reminded him, briefly photobombing with a wave before backing off.

"I have never run a half marathon before. I have never run farther than ten miles before, and that was two weeks ago, so we'll see how this goes." He cracked a smile. "If nothing else, the scenery is going to be outstanding. I can't wait to show it to you."

He put away the phone and joined Jared in the mass of people behind the starting line. He'd warmed up, had an energy bar and a few sips of water, and was ready to do this. Jared had coached him through a month of training, which wasn't as much time as he would have liked, but he knew he could run ten miles, at least. If he had to walk the remaining 3.1, so be it. Hopefully the altitude wouldn't get to him.

Like he'd said, at least the scenery was amazing.

"Excuse me," said a woman standing next to him. "Are you—oh my God," she said as she caught sight of Jared. "You're those guys! From that show!"

Jensen stared at her. "We're what?"

On her other side, her shorter friend leaned over, eyes going wide as she saw them. "Oh my God. You're the guys from On Your Way! You're—wait this is your final trip, right?"

"And you're doing it _together_?" the first woman asked, her voice rising in pitch at the end of her sentence.

"Don't tell anyone," Jared said. "Please? We want it to be a surprise when our videos come out."

Both women had huge grins on their faces, and for a moment Jensen was afraid they were going to demand photos or autographs or something. Then the first one said, "No problem." She made a key-turning gesture at her lips. 

"Say, have you run a race like this before?" the second one asked Jensen.

He shook his head. "That's part of the deal, right? This one here has to show me how it's done."

"That's adorable," the first woman said, still grinning. "Good luck to you guys!"

"Thanks," Jensen said with a small wave.

He nudged Jared in the side, and they moved over to the edge of the starting pack. "That was weird," he said.

"You have fans, Jensen. _We_ have fans."

He could still hear the women's voices, fast and excited, though he could only make out a few individual words like "cute" and "perfect" and "ship." 

Jensen shook his head. He had to concentrate on the race now. Thirteen-point-one miles, probably an hour and forty-five minutes of running based on what his ten-mile run had been like. He took a deep breath and settled his shoulders.

"You got this." Jared tapped his shoulder with a fist. "Ready?" 

They started at 6 AM on the dot. There were probably a couple hundred people as they shuffled along from the starting gate. Jared had pointed out that since they were wearing race bibs with electronic chips on them, it didn't matter if they weren't the first ones across the start line, because their clock would start counting whenever they did cross it. Jensen didn't really care how fast he went—he just wanted to finish.

And now he had to hope that he wasn't going to embarrass himself in front of his fans. Yikes.

The first mile was flat and dark, the first few rays of the sun highlighting the sagebrush-covered plains around them. They took it slow, Jensen trying not to feel insulted about the number of people passing him, including the two women who had spotted him. They were probably from Utah and acclimated to the altitude, he told himself. Jared had stressed the importance of keeping his own pace and not worrying about how other people were doing, so that was what he tried to do.

Then things started to get interesting. 

The road took a bend to the left and started down a long hill, and an amazing vista opened out in front of them: the sunrise gleaming off the orange and grey canyon walls, dotted and striped with deep green pines. Jensen noted he wasn't the only person pausing their run to take a photo or short video, and when he started again, he was glad for the break.

"How're you doing?" Jared asked.

"So far, so good."

"It's steep downhill for the next three miles. Don't lean backwards even if that's what your body wants to do. It'll strain your knees and tire your quads out."

Jensen was glad to hear a little huffing and puffing behind Jared's words. Maybe they really were in about equal shape, even if he got his exercise a different way. "Yes, I remember what I read on the Internet about running downhill."

"Not as easy as it looks." They continued on for a while, and then Jared laughed softly. "Damn, this view is awesome. This was such a good choice."

They stopped for more recordings at an overlook and then ran a little faster to make up for it. They were running almost straight into the rising sun, so Jensen was glad to have the spectacular scenery to look at on both sides. He was also glad to have his water source strapped to his back—not only was the altitude high, but it was practically a desert. At least that meant his sweat was evaporating as fast as it came out of him, which it certainly hadn't done back home in Austin. 

They stopped at the first water station to grab some Gatorade. "How're you doing?" Jared asked again, this time turning his phone camera on Jensen as they walked for a moment.

"Not bad, but this is the easy part!" He smiled at the camera. "I can tell my legs are taking a pounding going downhill, but my lungs feel great. I think I'll have the stamina to finish this."

Jared waggled his eyebrows before turning the camera on himself. "Jensen has been following my coaching to a T, including running downhill the proper way. I'm barely slowing down for him at all!"

"Shut up!" Jensen called before breaking into a run again. He didn't want Jared to have to slow down for him at all, but with his longer legs, it was almost inevitable. At least Jared didn't look like this was too easy for him.

Halfway through the race, they passed through the little town of Tropic, which was about five blocks long but lined with cheering people. The road had flattened out, and the temperature was rising along with the sun. Jensen still had plenty of water in his pack, given the way he could hear it sloshing around behind him, but he slowed down at the water table anyway. 

"Halfway done, woooot!" Jared had his camera on Jensen as he downed his Gatorade. "How're we doing?" 

Jensen gave a thumbs up as he emptied the cup. "Ready for more," he said as he started running again.

"I'll catch up!" Jared called. 

When Jensen looked over his shoulder, he saw Jared talking to one of the volunteers behind the water table, waving a hand around as if to indicate the town. He smiled to himself and ran on. Of course, Jared had to "work" during their run, gathering the same kind of information he usually did about the places he passed through. Not that he hadn't already done some research ahead of time—he'd told Jensen way more than he ever wanted to know about the Mormons who had settled this area, and how the national park had been discovered, and of course it hadn't really been "discovered" because the Ute people had already known the canyon was there, etc. Still, Jared genuinely liked talking to the locals. Jensen just hadn't realized that he literally did it during the race.

It was about three-quarters of a mile before Jared caught up to him, panting and grinning. "How're you doing? Mile eight, coming up!"

"We're almost done, right?"

"It's always easier after the halfway point."

But it continued to get hotter, and the near-desert landscape meant there was only the occasional tree alongside the road providing a few seconds of shade. They'd left the magnificent rock formations behind, and while the winding valley they were in was still pretty, it wasn't jaw-dropping, Jensen had to slow down to walk a few times, and his waterpack was getting awfully light.

When he finally dragged himself back into a run, Jared was looking at him, brow furrowed. "You all right?"

"Yeah. It's just getting warm."

"You could take your shirt off."

Jensen rolled his eyes. "Danneel's been trying to get me to do that in my videos for years."

"Come on, shirtless and sweaty Jensen would get both of us a lot of votes," Jared huffed out.

"I only put sunscreen on my arms. There's what, over forty-five minutes left to go? I don't want to burn."

"Fair enough." They ran on in silence for a while, rounding a bend to see another vista opening out in front of them. The road they were running on followed a small river valley, and there were irrigated fields alongside it in lush shades of green. In the distance, blue-grey and orange-red mesas loomed up, their rocky sides a shocking contrast to the pastoral farm fields.

Mile eight passed, and then mile nine. Jensen tried to keep running for half a mile at a time before walking, and then a third of a mile. At least the temperature seemed to have leveled off, or maybe he'd just gotten used to it. 

Jared insisted on taking a video selfie at mile ten. "You're about to go farther than you've ever gone before! How are you feeling?"

"Can't wait to get to that finish line," Jensen said with a tired grin.

"Glad we decided to stay at the hotel at the finish line, aren't you?" Jared asked. "Even if we had to get up super early for the shuttle bus."

Jensen nodded in agreement and steeled himself to start again.

They were definitely jogging rather than running now. Occasionally another runner passed them who'd been holding something in reserve, and sometimes they passed someone who had slowed to a walk. Jared always glanced over his shoulder as they did so, and after about the fifth or sixth time, he looked sheepishly at Jensen. "I just want to make sure they're okay. It is awfully hot out here."

"It is." Jensen slowed to a walk again, taking another sip of water. "If you want to go on ahead, I'll catch up to you at the finish."

"Nope. We're crossing the finish line together."

"Yeah, I know. The judges wouldn't want you abandoning me."

"Jensen, _I_ don't want me abandoning you." Jared's expression had more hurt than Jensen would have expected. "We're in this together, all right? All the way."

He nodded and gave Jared a smile in return. "All the way."

Mile eleven, and Jensen was feeling the burn in his legs now. He wasn't a runner, but he was pretty sure he'd never dreaded running two miles like he did now. 

The scenery was blurring together as Jensen concentrated on one foot in front of the other. He'd done tougher stuff than this—he'd literally climbed mountains, and that certainly wasn't downhill the whole way. He'd walked sixteen hours in one day on the Pacific Crest Trail. At least the backpacking trip they had planned in a few days wasn't going to be too challenging. He hoped.

"Mile twelve!" Jared exclaimed. "So close, Jensen. You got this!"

He gulped down the last of his water and eyed the road ahead. Past a curve, he could see in the distance the little tiny town where the finish line was located. "Glad we…walked the last bit…last night."

"Helps a lot to know what to expect," Jared said. "Just keep it steady. We're almost there."

Since it was a completely rural race down a state highway, there hadn't been the cheering crowds alongside the course that Jensen had seen in some of Jared's videos. But as they turned the corner off the highway and into the little town of Cannonville, there were a handful of people on either side of the street, cheering and shouting as they covered the last few blocks.

They passed the thirteen-mile marker, which meant one stupid tenth of a mile to go. That was less than a city block. Jensen had that much left in him.

He was startled to feel Jared grab his hand, and he held on tight even if it threw off his running rhythm, appreciating the extra support. Hand in hand, they crossed the finish line, Jared throwing their clasped hands up with a whoop. "You did it!"

Jensen staggered to a stop, legs burning. "Holy crap, I did it."

"All right!" Jared engulfed him in a hug before backing up and turning on his GoPro. "Jensen Ackles, you have just finished your first-ever half marathon. How. Do. You. Feel?"

He raised both hands in the air in his best Rocky imitation and gave Jared a tired grin. "Couldn’t have done it without my coach."

"Atta boy." Jared clapped him on the shoulder. "Go get some water, chocolate milk, and a banana. In that order. I'll catch up with you so we can stretch."

Jensen staggered towards the table where volunteers were handing out the food. He grabbed the items Jared had suggested, plus a bagel. Then he paused to let someone hang a medal around his neck before hobbling his way to a tree he could lean up against.

Jared was cheering the people who were still crossing the finish line, pausing to chat with the race organizers in between runners. Jensen watched him with a tired smile, amazed at how much energy he seemed to have. Jared had dragged Jensen across the finish line, almost literally, and now he was still out there encouraging other people.

He really was something special.

"C'mon, Jensen, let's go!"

Jared was greeted with a loud groan. "I'm not leaving this bed."

"Yes you are. You're going to get too stiff if you just lie there all day."

Jensen raised his head at that, fixing Jared with a "that's what she said" look.

Jared rolled his eyes, though he was pleased that Jensen was in a good enough mood to joke. "No, seriously, come on. I know you're sore, but you need to walk around a bit."

"I can walk to the fridge to get a beer. That's about it right now."

"Nope, we're going to go to Bryce Canyon National Park."

"We're what?"

"I have a yearly pass for the national parks. We'll drive in, walk around a nice, easy nature trail, and pick up some barbecue in Tropic on the way back. What do you say?"

Jensen put a hand to his stomach. "I don't feel like barbecue. I'm not even hungry. Why am I not hungry?"

"That often happens after a race. Just wait till evening: you'll be starving."

Jensen looked at him more closely. "Are you bringing your GoPro? Are you going to film me hobbling around like an eighty-year-old?" 

"I'll wait till you're walking all the way upright," Jared teased. When Jensen didn't respond, he said, "Hey, you know this is part of my trip. I have to go out and see the place I'm visiting. And it really will help if you walk around a little bit."

Jensen frowned, but he sat up and slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed. "All right, I'll try."

"Excellent." Jared came forward and held out his hands. "Need help getting up?"

Jensen looked like he was thinking about it for a moment, but eventually he put his hands in Jared's and nodded.

Assuming he was doing all of the work, Jared gave a big tug on Jensen's hands. He nearly came flying off the bed, smacking into Jared with an "Oof!"

Instantly, Jared let go of his hands and grabbed his hips to steady him. "Sorry about that! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Jensen's hands were resting on Jared's chest, and when he looked up at Jared through his lashes, Jared's heart nearly stopped. Jensen moistened his lips, and Jared almost automatically leaned towards him.

Then Jensen looked down and stepped to the side, out of Jared's arms. "Sorry," he said quietly.

Jared had no idea what he was apologizing for, but he wasn't sure how to ask. So all he said was, "No problem. Let's grab our water bottles and some sunscreen, okay?"

Jared drove them back up the road to Bryce Canyon, past the little town of Tropic that they'd run through, and up the steep hill. "Man, I'm glad the course didn't go this direction," Jensen said as their car labored to climb the final slope.

"Yeah, there's a reason it's a point-to-point course instead of a loop," Jared agreed. 

"Kind of depressing to cover in a matter of minutes what took a couple of hours, though."

"Maybe, but at least you can enjoy the scenery instead of worrying about pacing yourself and how much water you have left."

"True." Jensen took a big swig from his water bottle before taking out his phone and pointing the camera lens at Jared. "So really, how much did you slow down for me?"

"I don't know." Jared waved a hand at him. "'S not important."

"No, really. We finished in what, 1:52? That's not your usual time."

"Little bit less than that."

"You're not gonna hurt my feelings if you tell me."

Jared bit his lip and glanced at Jensen and the phone that was recording him. "My fastest time is 1:32."

"Damn." Jensen let out a whistle. "You _were_ holding back."

"I'm not always out to set a PR." At Jensen's frown, he went on, "A personal record. Besides, I was shorter of breath than normal because of the altitude. I don't think I would have gone much faster on my own."

"Uh huh. You're just saying that to be nice." But Jensen was smiling at him, so Jared knew he was just teasing.

Still, he was being filmed, so he flashed Jensen a cheeky grin. "I'm always nice!"

Jensen just shook his head and put the phone down. "I think we're almost there."

They passed through the entrance gate with Jared's pass, and Jensen leaned across the driver's seat to request a paper map. He studied it as Jared drove, asking, "So where was that nature trail you mentioned?"

"Oh, I don't know. Don't national parks always have a nature trail?"

"Hmm." Jensen studied the map a while longer and said, "Or we could just drive around and look at the scenery that way."

"Nope. We're here to walk, mister." Jared pulled into the parking lot for the visitor's center. "C'mon, we can ask them what the easiest trail is."

"That means I have to get out of the car twice."

"Dude, quit whining." He glanced at Jensen to make sure he was taking the teasing all right.

Jensen only rolled his eyes. "All right, let's go."

Jared had to take a moment himself to climb out of the car, quads aching and thighs not entirely happy about holding him up. When he was ready, Jensen was standing upright with a grin. "Dude, I stood up faster than you did."

"All right, all right, quit bragging." Jared stuck his tongue out, and Jensen laughed.

It turned out the shortest, flattest trail was right there at the visitor's center, though the rangers recommended driving a short distance to an overlook with views of the columnar rocks that Bryce Canyon was known for. They did the short hike anyway, winding among tall pines and rocks on relatively flat ground. Jared filmed some of it for later without any commentary, just taking in the scenery.

When they got back in the car, he turned the camera on Jensen. "So, how was that?"

Jensen made a little face. "It actually felt kind of good to walk a little bit."

"Ha! Told you so." Jared grinned. "Ready for more?"

"I was promised some excellent views, so you'd better deliver."

"I always deliver," Jared winked.

The parking lot at the overlook was huge, and it was nearly full. They ended up walking a longer distance from the car to the beginning of the walkway than they did out onto the overlook. But once they were there, the view was indeed spectacular.

"Wow," Jared said as they gazed out over the canyon below them. He'd turned on his camera, tapping Jensen's shoulder to be sure he saw it was recording. "This is amazing."

"Isn't it? I must have seen a hundred pictures of this place, but it's really so much better in person."

The canyon was a large, open U-shape, and they were standing at the base of the U. The sides dropped steeply away, but then pillars of orange rock rose up from the surface. They were packed so closely together that they looked like rows of sharp teeth, with the occasional arch between them. There were pine trees scattered here and there, their flashes of green a welcome relief from the vivid, barren rocks.

"Look." Jensen grabbed his arm and pointed. "See the people?"

Jared leaned over the railing. Wayyyyyyy down below, there were narrow white curves that had to be trails winding among the rocks. There were tiny people on them, and Jared suddenly realized how very far down those people were.

He carefully stood up, away from the railing. "Those trails must be awesome. Imagine getting to walk down there and see all those rocks towering above you."

"Just wait till our backpacking trip starts. You'll be up close and personal with a whole lot of rocks and canyons."

"Can't wait," Jared grinned.

Back in the car, they agreed to drive out to the end of the road for one more overlook. It was a similar view, but Jared couldn't imagine getting tired of looking at it. 

"I'm so glad we decided to come here," Jensen suddenly said. "This is fabulous, and the trail will be even better."

"How are your legs?"

"Eh, I'm looking forward to sleeping for about ten hours tonight," Jensen grinned. "And I'm finally getting hungry. But I’m doing okay."

"Glad to hear it. Coach Jared will help you through recovery tomorrow, and then I think Coach Jensen needs to take over the next day to help prep for the backpacking, right?"

"That's the plan, yep."

Jared turned off the camera as they got back in the car. He was putting it away when his phone buzzed. He quickly read the text and grinned. "Awesome."

"What is it?" 

"Oh, I asked the race organizers if they could send me the footage from the finish line. They record it all so you can watch yourself finish, but I was hoping to get a copy so I could cut it into my video. Sometimes they don't let me do that, but this time they will."

"Huh." Jensen was quiet as they got back on the road. It wasn't until they were almost out of the park that he said, "You're gonna put that in your video? Us crossing the finish line?"

"Yeah, sure! Like I said, I don't always get to have access, but this time I will."

"Oh." Another long pause, and then Jensen said, "So, that's the part where we were holding hands."

"Yeah, I thought it would be a nice way to cross the finish line, side by side." Jared glanced at him. "That was okay, right?"

"Yeah, no, it was fine. Just—I don't know, people might make assumptions about us."

"Oh."

"I mean, if you want to use it, I guess that's fine."

"If you're not comfortable with it, I don't have to."

"No, it's your video."

They were both quiet for a while as they started back downhill, along the road they'd run down not even twelve hours ago. Finally, Jared said, "If you don't want the On Your Way crew to make a big deal of it, I can make it clear that it's just me being a pushy coach."

"It's not that." 

Jared fell silent. He'd known that Jensen didn't want anything about his personal life ending up in the videos, but this was more than he had expected. If he'd thought more carefully about it, he wouldn't have grabbed Jensen's hand at the end like that. But it had seemed right to do so, a symbol that they were in this together and finishing together. 

Then something else occurred to him, so simple that he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before. "Jensen, is it—are you not out?"

"No, I am. More or less. I mean, it hasn't come up in the videos, but everyone who knows me already knows. But I don't know if the people who watch my channel know. Or care, really. But they might." 

"Oh." Jared thought about how to phrase it. "Are you worried that you're going to lose some viewers if they think you're gay?"

Jensen wrinkled his nose. "When you put it that way, it sounds stupid."

"I don't think it's stupid," Jared said carefully. "I know you're concerned about your privacy, especially when it comes to personal matters."

"Which is pretty pointless considering I'm trying to win a contest to make a TV show about myself."

"Yeah, but you don’t have to have your personal life part of your travel. I mean, not that there's anything to keep separate here, right? It's not like we're trying to hide a budding romance."

"No, of course not." Jensen was looking out the side window, and Jared couldn't quite read his expression. His voice was flat, though, which didn't bode well.

Jared cleared his throat. "I don't have to include the finish line."

"If you think it'll make your video better, then do it. I don't want you holding back because of me. This is the finals, Jared."

"And some things are more important! Jesus, Jensen, if you think I'm going to do something you're clearly uncomfortable with to get more votes and comments, then…" Jared trailed off and shook his head. "I would have thought that you thought better of me than that."

Jensen didn't respond, and Jared's heart sank. So much for his plans to talk to Jensen on their backpacking trip about starting something up between them once the finals were over, or even here in Utah. Jensen clearly thought that Jared valued winning the competition over anything else, and Jared wasn't sure he wanted to be with someone who misunderstood him that much.

The rest of the drive was in silence, even picking up dinner and taking it home. Jensen said he was tired and was just going to sleep, leaving Jared standing in the hotel hallway with two styrofoam clamshells full of pulled pork.

Their backpacking trip was going to be a disaster.

Jensen woke up with a headache from not eating dinner, legs that were so sore he could barely get out of bed, and a deep pit in his stomach from remembering what he'd said to Jared last night. 

Or _not_ said, really. He'd been so taken aback by Jared's casual dismissal of anything meaningful between them that he'd kind of tuned out the rest of what Jared was saying. Only when Jared was inside the restaurant getting the takeout they'd ordered did it really sink in, and then it felt like it was too late.

But they had to work this out if they were going to spend three days in close quarters. 

He took the time to brew a cup of coffee from the tiny coffeemaker in his room. Then he brewed a second one, dumping sugar and creamer in it as he knew Jared liked. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on Jared's door.

There was no answer.

Jensen bit his lip. Now what was he supposed to do? Had Jared gone out for a walk, or God help him, a run? Cannonville was pretty small, so he could probably just walk around the four blocks until he found him. But what if Jared had taken the car?

Before Jensen's mind could run in any wilder directions, like Jared having left him entirely, the door swung open. Jared was bleary-eyed and shirtless, scrubbing a hand over his face like a little kid trying to wake up. It was such an endearing combination that Jensen almost smiled, until he remembered why he was here.

He held out the doctored cup of coffee. "I'm sorry."

Jared blinked at him. "Okay."

"For not responding to you in the car. I don't think you're an awful person, Jared. I don't think you'd do anything that would make me uncomfortable, regardless of how many hits or subscribers it got you. You're way too good a guy for that. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away."

"Okay." Jared took the cup of coffee and tentatively sipped at it. He looked for a moment he was eating a lemon, and then said, "Thanks," holding up the coffee.

"It's shit coffee, isn't it?"

A smile broke out on Jared's face. "Yeah, it kind of is."

"Want to go up to Tropic and get some breakfast? There's an actual coffeeshop there."

"Yeah, okay." Jared held up a finger. "One sec."

He was back in about thirty seconds, Dallas Cowboys t-shirt on and hair combed. "Okay, let's go."

They drove the ten-minute journey in silence, but it didn't feel uncomfortable. After getting coffees and breakfast sandwiches, they sat outside on a picnic table in the city park across the street. 

Jensen wolfed down his sandwich in no time. "Probably should wait a few minutes before I get another one, huh?"

"You must be pretty hungry this morning," Jared said in a neutral tone.

"It's what I deserve for skipping out on you last night."

Jared had just taken a bite of his bacon-and-egg sandwich, so he only tilted his head to the side and shrugged one shoulder in response.

Jensen took that to mean, _Yeah, you kinda did_ , so he went on, "I'm just gonna lay it out, okay?" When Jared nodded, he went on, "You said it wasn't like there was anything between us that we had to hide anyway. And when I heard that, I took it to mean that you aren't interested anymore. That kinda hurt, especially since we never talked about what happened in Denver, and by the time I tuned back in to what you were saying, I'd missed something important."

Jared laid his sandwich down on its wrapper. "I didn't mean it like that, Jensen. I meant that we're both going to be careful when we put our videos together to make it clear we're just friends. Right?"

"Are we?" Jensen asked. "Just friends?"

"Dude, you're the one who insisted that we keep this purely professional until the finals are over. I'm just trying to follow your lead."

Jensen sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. Look, I don't date a lot. I don't go out much, and I work from home, so I don't know where I'd meet people anyway. I travel all the time, plus planning that travel, plus making the videos from it. Any spare time I have, I'm working to make up for the days when I'm away. So, I don't really have a lot of experience with this kind of thing." 

Then a thought suddenly struck him, and he flattened his hands on the table. "Well, damn."

"What is it?" Jared asked.

He took in a slow breath and forced himself to meet Jared's gaze. "I've been telling myself that I should take it slow with you because you're going to win the contest and be too busy doing a TV show, and even if you don't, you're going to be too busy developing your vlog and getting sponsors to have any time for me."

Jared frowned. "You should have asked me about that first, but go on."

"The thing is, that's what I'm afraid will happen to _me_. That I'll be too busy, or I'll do something else to screw this up as soon as we start it, so it's better to not even start in the first place. I mean, we don't even live in the same city, even if we're not that far away. What if it doesn't work out?"

There was silence for a moment except the occasional car passing on the highway. Then Jared reached across the table and put his hand over Jensen's. "That's why you've been so insistent that we don't give off any more-than-friends vibes."

"Yeah, I guess so." He looked down at Jared's hand covering his. "I’m sorry."

"Hey, you just figured it out, right? I'm glad that you're telling me, Jensen."

"Me too." He bit his lip and looked up at Jared. "So now what?"

Jared popped the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth and chewed and swallowed before he replied. "Now, we drive around today and tomorrow to see the sights and take an easy hike or two to keep our legs moving while I gather more footage. Then you remind me of everything I need to know about backpacking. Then we go into the wilderness and see how it goes."

"Oh. Okay."

Jared's expression softened. "By 'see how it goes,' I mean between us, too. I like you, Jensen. A lot. But I think we've both been operating under some misconceptions here. I'm glad you straightened things out, but you've got to decide if you want to take a chance here."

"Same goes for you. Now that you know how insecure I can be."

"Insecurity I can deal with." Jared leaned closer across the table. "Not that you have _anything_ to be insecure about. In any arena."

Jensen could feel his cheeks heating up at the innuendo in Jared's voice. "I don't think that kind of compatibility is going to pose a problem."

Jared grinned and drew back. "Just let me know if you want to gather more information on the subject."

Two days later, Jared was tightening the straps on his backpack and looking to Jensen for his approval. "How do I look?"

They'd taken two days to recover, taking short walks around the block or back up in the National Park, and driving around a bit to take in the scenery. Jensen was still a little sore, but from what Jared could tell, he didn't have a limp or any signs of injury. For his part, Jared felt a bit more stiffness in his quads than normal; maybe he hadn't taken his own advice about how to run downhill. But some careful stretching and massaging had him back on track in time for the backpacking trip. 

"I'm still not sure about the shoes," Jensen was saying.

Jared held out one foot to show off his pink-edged running shoes. "Hey, they carried me down the road during the race! And I'm really close to getting a sponsorship from them, so I'd like to show them off."

"The trail will be rocky in places, and we'll be walking in a creek bed, which might be totally dry and sandy, or might be ankle-deep water. You really should wear hiking boots, Jared."

"Um." He looked away. "I didn't actually bring any."

"Jared!" Jensen ran his hand through his hair. "That was like the top of the equipment list that I sent you."

"They were all really expensive! Look, just don't mention it in the video and we can pretend I followed all of your instructions."

"It's not about the video," Jensen sighed. "It's about keeping you safe."

"I'm sorry." Jared looked down, suddenly feeling like his backpack was too heavy on his shoulders. They'd been on good terms the last few days after Jensen's self-revelation, and now he was worried it was his turn to screw things up. "I promise I'll listen to everything else you say."

"Do you?" Jensen asked. "Because this isn't like the race. You did a great job of coaching me and helping me finish, but there were water tables and volunteers on hand if something went wrong. On the trail, it's just you and me."

"No, I get it." Jared shrugged the pack off his shoulders and propped it up against the wall. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about it as a safety thing."

"Well, just be extra careful as you're walking. I don't want to have to haul your ass back down the trail with a broken ankle."

"I'll be good," Jared said, holding up his hand like a Boy Scout.

Jensen gave him a wan smile. "Sorry for snapping at you. I'm nervous, I guess."

"Nervous?" Jared drew his head back. "You've done this a few dozen times. I'm the one who's never camped out overnight."

"Yeah, exactly. It's my responsibility to make sure that you get through this in one piece and that you have a good time doing it."

"And that you film it just right to make the perfect video."

Jensen shrugged. "I'm not even thinking about that, really. Just…I don't know."

Jared took a step forward, putting his hands on Jensen's shoulders. "You're going to do as good a job with this video as with any of your videos. Hell, even better. You won the last round, and I want you to win this one, too. I mean it."

Shaking his head, Jensen said, "Can we please not think about that right now? The competition, or anything? Just pretend we're two guys going on a backpacking trip."

"Okay, but don't downplay anything because of me. Record all you want, just like you normally would."

"Will do." Jensen gave him a quick smile. "Now show me your checklist, so I know everything's in your pack."

Jared pulled out the checklist he and Jensen had put together while they were each back at home. He waited till Jensen had his camera out and filming, and then he showed off the first set of checkmarks to indicate everything he'd acquired at home—except the hiking boots—and then the second set to show it was all in his pack.

Jensen swung the camera over to Jared's backpack. "I don't recall having a sleeping bag on the list."

"Look, you might be used to wrapping yourself up in tinfoil, but I'm not taking any chances. It can get cold in the desert at night."

"It's a space blanket, designed to keep body heat in. It's always worked fine for me in the weather that they're forecasting for the next few days, and it's a heck of a lot lighter weight than a sleeping bag."

"I bought the lightest bag I could find that wasn't super expensive. And I'm the one carrying it, so I promise not to complain." Jared grinned as the camera turned back to him.

Jensen pursed his lips. "All right, fair enough. Are you ready?"

Jared put out a thumbs up. "Let's go!"

When Jensen turned off the camera, Jared asked, "That's not going to be a problem with the judges, is it? That I'm coming along with you but not doing exactly what you do?"

"I don't think so. I mean, I didn't run as fast as you do, but I still ran the race."

"Fair point." He looked at Jensen in pretend sternness. "But if it gets too cold, I am not sharing my sleeping bag with you."

"You sweat so much you'll be sleeping outside of it by morning," Jensen retorted. 

They loaded up the car and were on their way. The road to the trail they were taking was about thirty miles of gravel and potholes. Jared drove carefully with the rental car; the road didn't say it was restricted to four-wheel drive vehicles like many of the roads out here were, but it was still bumpy and uneven in places.

Fortunately, Jared didn't mind going slowly. The scenery was breathtaking, from the brightly-colored rocks as they drove past Kodachrome State Park to the bone-white hills speckled with sagebrush just a few miles down the road. He finally asked Jensen to set up his camera for him on the dashboard so he could get some footage to include later.

"I can't get over how it just keeps changing," Jared said. "Like, one mile to the next, the rocks are a different color, and then they're striped diagonally instead of horizontally. I wish I knew something about the geology here."

"You'll have to look it up later. It'll make a good voiceover instead of the sound of the car bumping along on the gravel."

After about an hour, they reached the trailhead. There were two cars already parked along the side of the road, and Jared pulled in behind them. "Looks like we might have some company."

"The ranger said no one else had requested a permit to camp tonight," Jensen replied. "They must be daytrippers."

"Good, then we'll have it all to ourselves," Jared winked.

They put on their packs and locked the car. Jared noticed that his pack was about twice as big as Jensen's, not counting the sleeping bag on top. Hopefully he'd use everything in his bag in the next two days, or he'd be really unhappy at lugging it all this way.

Jensen said, "The trail is eleven miles one-way, but the campsite is about eight miles in, at a fork in the trail. I figure we'll set up camp when we get to the fork, and then tomorrow we'll explore up both trails."

"Eight miles isn't that far for one day," Jared said. "We ran thirteen just a few days ago."

"It's pretty damn far when you're carrying thirty pounds on your back."

"Fair enough."

Jared soon realized that it would take much longer than he thought to hike those eight miles. He kept stopping what seemed like every few feet to take pictures or short videos. First there was the narrow valley of Hackberry Canyon, where the trail was essentially the stream bed. Fortunately, it was dry right now, otherwise his feet would have been soaked and Jensen would have been right about needing hiking boots. But the smooth, striped sandstone walls spoke of the massive floods that had come thundering through here in the past, and Jared suddenly viscerally understood the need to keep a close eye on the weather out here.

Then only a short ways rather, the valley widened slightly, and there were squared-off red rocks towering above them, so deep red they almost looked burnt, providing blessed shade from the heat of the sun. 

A mile or so in, the rock lining the valley became white and smooth, looking like a pile of dough that had hardened in place. Aspens and grasses rustled alongside the creekbed, taking advantage of whatever water still endured below the surface. 

The canyon narrowed again, to the point where Jared could touch each side with one hand. Now the sandy ground beneath his feet was damp, even muddy, and when they rounded a corner, he saw why: a trickle of water was running down a rock face that had to be three stories high, the sunlight turning the water to sparkling silver. 

"This place is incredible, Jensen," he said quietly.

Jensen turned to smile at him, his expression soft. "It's even better than I'd hoped, to be honest."

They paused for lunch after the canyon widened out again, climbing up on a large, flat rock to look out over the way they'd come. Jared was more than relieved to get the heavy pack off his shoulders. He was even gladder to scarf down the sandwich they'd packed that morning and nibble from their bag of trail mix. As they ate, a man and a woman hiked by with their dog, headed back towards the trailhead, waving as they passed.

After he'd finished, he asked Jensen, "How're you doing? Legs still sore?"

"Not as bad as I'd feared," he said. "How about you? Shoulders feeling it yet?"

"Oh my God, so much. I’m not sure I'm going to be able to put that thing back on."

"Well, we're about a third of the way in, so I'm afraid you're stuck with it for a while longer. But we'll eat enough food and drink enough water by the time we walk back out that it should be lighter. And tomorrow during the day hikes, you can just carry a rucksack with water and the like."

"All right, here we go." He paused. "D'you want to film this?"

"Not if you think it's going to be embarrassing."

"C'mon, I always include something dorky in my videos."

With a shrug, Jensen lifted his phone and watched as Jared struggled to put his backpack on. He winced as the straps settled into his sore shoulders, but as he buckled the hip and chest belts, the pressure subsided a bit. He raised a fist in the air in triumph. "Let's go!"

They were able to walk side-by-side on the dry creekbed, which was nice. After a moment, Jensen asked, "Were you planning on putting the whole trip in your video, or just the run?"

"Mostly the run, but some of this, too. I don't usually stay around this long after a race, but I do try to show off the place I'm visiting. This counts for that, I think." He raised his arms to indicate the canyon walls around them. "But I wasn't going to talk much about the backpacking part. That's for your video."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I might just have a couple of scenes from the race, but this part of the trip is the real focus for me."

"Don't want to confuse the judges," Jared said.

"That, and the race wasn't really something to film, you know? It was something to experience." Jensen's eyes crinkled as he smiled at Jared. "I'm glad you made me do it. It was a real feeling of accomplishment."

"I'm glad to hear that! I was afraid you'd be cursing me because you were too sore to hike."

"Little bit, but this is an easy trail so far."

They'd already climbed up and down more rocks than Jared could count, and he knew Jensen's legs had to be more sore than his from the race a few days ago. To hear that this was an _easy_ trail had him marveling at how Jensen always made his hikes look simple. Either he never filmed the really hard parts, or he had a lot more strength inside of him than Jared had already seen.

A moment later, Jensen said more quietly, "I was thinking about the video of the finish line."

Jared kept his voice as neutral as he could as he asked, "Yeah?" 

"I think you should include it. And not just because it's your video and you should have the finish line in it. But because you were with me the whole time, and I wouldn't have made it without you being so encouraging. That went right up to the last stupid tenth of a mile. You should include that."

"You're okay with it?"

Jensen nodded firmly. "I am."

"Okay." Jared thought about it for a moment, not sure if he should ask if this also meant Jensen had changed his mind about taking a chance on a relationship with him.

There were voices up ahead, and Jared glanced apologetically at Jensen. This wasn't exactly a busy trail, but maybe they should wait for any more personal discussions until they were sure they were alone.

In the meantime, he was going to enjoy the hike.

By the time they got to the campsite, Jensen could tell that Jared was really dragging. He'd offered to transfer some stuff to his pack to lighten Jared's load, but Jared had shaken his head, insisting that Jensen stick to carrying only his own gear. 

Thankfully, the campsite was unoccupied. And freaking gorgeous. Jensen had his phone out in a matter of seconds, sweeping across the wide, flat rock that they were perched on, taking in the red rock canyon below. They were facing west, which meant the sunset was going to be spectacular. 

"Wow," Jared breathed in the background, and Jensen smiled in agreement.

They sat and rested for a moment, drinking some of their precious water. Jensen had been pretty sure there wouldn't be any water sources along this trail this late in the summer, so a good portion of the weight of their packs was water. Thankfully, that would disappear as they went. Not that his bag was very heavy to start with, but every ounce helped.

"All right, who wants dinner?" Jensen asked, standing up and brushing his hands together.

Jared raised his hand with a hopeful grin.

"Excellent. I'll get the camp stove set up, and you roll out the sleeping pads and your sleeping bag."

"What about a campfire?"

"We're not supposed to have one up here."

Jared pouted, and Jensen hid a grin. "Okay, maybe a small one later on, as long as we put it out completely before going to bed."

Dinner was beef stroganoff and chicken pot pie; at least that was what the labels on the packages said. Jensen offered Jared his choice, and Jared grabbed the stroganoff, almost burning his fingers in the process. They ate right out of the pouches, since Jensen didn't usually bring along plates or bowls. 

When they were done, Jared leaned back against his pack, stretching his long legs out in front of him. He motioned to Jensen to start up the camera, and then said, "That was surprisingly tasty considering it just looked like a brown mess."

"My dad always says the outdoors gives you an appetite. I think it's the hiking and climbing while carrying a good portion of your body weight that does it, but that's just me."

"Did your dad get you into backpacking?"

"Kind of. We went hiking a lot when I was a kid, but never overnight. It was a trip I took in college with some friends that really got me into it. I was kind of nervous about sleeping outside, but once I saw what it was like under the stars, I couldn’t wait to go back."

"You never have a tent?"

"No. I bring a tarp in case it rains, but mostly I try not to go somewhere it's going to be too cold."

"I was so impressed in your Montana trip where you piled up the snow and used that as a windblock."

"Yeah, that was probably the coldest night I've had. Wouldn't have been unhappy to have had a real sleeping bag with me."

"Well, I'm not sharing mine," Jared said, sticking his tongue out.

Jensen laughed and shut off the recording. "I doubt there'd be room for both of us anyway."

They cleaned up, washing their dishes and putting away the stove. Thankfully, this part of Utah didn't have any large animals, so they didn't have to string anything up in the trees to keep it away from bears. Instead, Jensen gathered some rocks into a small ring, scrambled back down to the dry wash to grab some twigs, and managed to coax a fire into life.

"Nice," Jared said, sitting cross-legged on the rock. "Wish I'd brought some marshmallows."

"They are lightweight," Jensen said. "I've been known to bring a few."

"Man, now I want s'mores."

"Did you have enough for dinner? There's more trail mix if you're hungry."

"No, Mom, I'm good," Jared said with a wink.

"Okay. Lots more hiking to do tomorrow, though we can leave our stuff here."

"It's kind of weird to think of that. I'm so used to locking the door on my house, locking up my car, everything. And here, we can just walk away and there won't even be another human being out here, much less one who might take any of our stuff."

"Probably not, no. I mean, it happens from time to time, but usually in more populated areas. More likely that someone else will set up camp here, since this space can hold three groups."

"I hope no one does," Jared said. "I kinda like it just being ours."

"Me too."

They sat in silence for a while, watching the changing colors on the western horizon. The sun was behind a pillar of rock, so they didn't have to worry about staring into it, but they could still see the sky just above the horizon shift from blue to pale yellow and then a fiery orange that echoed the rocks around them. 

As they silently watched, the blue deepened and darkened to velvet, with a few streaks of clouds floating in pale purple across the deep orange.

Then it was dark except for the flicker of their fire.

"Wow." Jared sounded almost reverent. "That was an amazing sunset."

"Pretty great, huh?"

"Did you film it?"

Jensen shook his head. "My camera doesn't do that well with sunsets. I've tried before."

"That's too bad. I wish I'd thought to fire mine up." He gestured at the sky. "Can't exactly rewind it now!"

"No, that's the thing about being out here. You have to enjoy things as they come. Even recording them only gets you a little piece of what it's really like. We should be able to see the sunrise in the other direction pretty well, too."

"If we get up that early." Jared was quiet for a moment. Then he asked, "What do we do now?"

"Go to bed. I don't waste batteries on lights, and the sun'll come up pretty early. That's why I had you lay out the sleeping pads."

"I would protest that it's only seven o'clock, except I'm so tired I don't think I'll have any trouble falling asleep."

"I don't think you will either." Jensen smiled at him. "C'mon, I'll show you how to put a fire out, and then we'll go to bed."

A few minutes later, Jared was tucked away in his sleeping bag, eyes already closed. Jensen rolled himself up in his space blanket like a burrito, wanting to trap as much body heat as he could. The stars were shining overhead, which meant the temperature could drop quite a bit overnight. They'd been grateful for the shade all day, but nighttime in the desert was different. Fortunately, Jared was between him and the edge of the rock, so he'd block any wind that came up the valley.

Jensen closed his eyes, replaying the day in his head. The hike in had been amazing, and Jared was doing pretty well for a first-timer. Of course, this was a fairly easy trail to follow, but still, so far, so good. Tomorrow they'd do a couple of easy, short hikes up the two canyons that merged just below where they were camped, and then spend some time back here. He drifted off with visions of smooth, orange stone and high canyon walls in his head.

He woke up absolutely freezing cold.

The sky above was dark and clear, stars twinkling in the deep black. The fire beside him had been put out, but there was one lone coal still glowing. Jensen frowned; he should have done a better job at putting it out. 

Beside him, Jared was curled up on his side facing Jensen, lips parted and breathing softly. Jensen mirrored him, tucking the space blanket around himself and trying to think warm thoughts. He had an extra shirt in his pack besides the long-sleeved one he'd put on to sleep in, but going to get it meant letting the little precious warmth that he did have escape into the night air.

He heard a faint rattling sound, and he realized it was the blanket; he was shivering underneath it. 

When he looked up, Jared was blinking at him. "You okay?" Jared asked sleepily.

"Just a little chilly," Jensen murmured. "I'll be all right."

Jared looked at him more closely. "Jesus, your teeth are chattering! C'mon, get in here with me." He started to unzip his sleeping bag.

"Won't be room for both of us," Jensen replied. 

"Sure there will. I got an extra-large sleeping bag so I wouldn't feel too squished. C'mon."

Jensen had his pride, he really did. And if Jared wasn't out here, he wouldn't have any other choice than to go with the gear he'd brought. But he was _cold_ , and it would be nice to be so close to Jared once again, and before he could think better of it, he was pushing their sleeping pads together and climbing into Jared's bag.

It was a tight fit, to be sure, but it was blessedly warm. It also smelled wonderfully like Jared, and Jensen closed his eyes for a moment to breathe it in.

"Dude, you are so cold. What happened? I thought you always knew how to pack?"

"I do." He rolled onto his side and burrowed up against Jared, happy when Jared took the hint and spooned him. "The forecast was for clouds overnight, so I thought it'd be warmer."

"Well, I promise not to tell anyone you miscalculated." Jared zipped the bag shut again and curled up around Jensen. "You should have woken me up sooner."

"Just woke up myself." Jensen curled his hands into the lining of the sleeping bag in lieu of gloves. "Sorry if I woke you."

"Not at all! I know you want to have your low-gear adventures and all, but you can't freeze to death on me." Jared rubbed a hand up and down his side, and Jensen relaxed back into it. 

A moment passed, and Jensen felt the worst of the cold leaving his limbs. "Feels better now," he said sleepily.

"Good." Jared draped an arm around his side and pulled him closer. "Better stay like this just in case, though."

Jensen smiled to himself, but he kept his voice neutral as he said, "Absolutely. For safety."

"That's right." 

Jensen was getting warm enough now that he could imagine going back to sleep again. He reached out of the sleeping bag to grab the knapsack he'd been using as a pillow and tucked it under his head. Limbs warm again, Jared's scent all around him, he closed his eyes and slipped back into sleep.

When he woke up again, he was too warm. For a moment, it was uncomfortable, until he remembered how he'd gotten here in the first place. He'd rolled over in his sleep, and now he was on his back with Jared draped over his right side, forehead against Jensen's cheek and one leg draped over both of Jensen's, the sleeping bag snug around them both.

It was really comfortable despite the warmth. Jensen had been wondering ever since Denver what it would be like to just lie next to Jared and feel that long body wrapped around his. It was definitely worth waiting for.

He might have drifted back to sleep, but he woke up again when Jared pulled away. "Whassa matter?" he muttered.

"Sorry," Jared whispered. "Didn't mean to fall asleep on top of you."

"'S okay." Jensen blinked until Jared came into focus. "What time's it?"

"No idea. No sun yet, though, so it's really early."

"Okay." He tugged at the front of Jared's shirt. "Keep me warm."

Jared gave a low chuckle. "Yes, sir," he said, nudging at Jensen's shoulder so he rolled onto his side. Then he curled up behind Jensen, long legs slotting in behind his.

Jensen gave a contented sigh and settled his head back down.

A moment later, he realized Jared hadn't laid down completely. He looked over his shoulder to see Jared up on one elbow, looking down at him. There was just enough light from the stars to see the fond expression on Jared's face, and Jensen suddenly was wide awake. "What is it?" 

"Nothing. Just…" Jared shook his head. "This is nice."

"Yeah, it is. 'S like what we never got to do in Denver."

"Yeah." Jared hesitated and then went on, "The thing is, I didn't really want to then. I mean, I had a good time, and I probably would have stayed if I hadn't had the early flight. But I don't know, at the time I kind of felt like I was just getting it out of my system, you know?"

Jensen frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'd had this crush on you from your videos, and then there you were, and you were even interested, and it was like a dream come true, right? But I figured that was all it was going to be, so I left."

"Oh." Jensen was surprised at how deeply it hurt to know that Jared just thought of him as a one-night stand.

"But I was wrong, Jensen. Once we started talking and texting, and I got to know you more…I was so excited to see you again in Portland, and that's when I knew I wanted something more. But then you kind of blew me off because you had to make your video, and I figured it _had_ just been a one-time thing."

Jensen stared up at him. "I wasn't blowing you off." He quirked up the corner of his mouth. "Unfortunately."

Jared gave him a small smile. "I know. The competition had to come first."

"Which is what I accused you of doing."

"Not so much _accused_ , I think. More like assumed. Which is fair, considering what we're both doing here."

Jensen shifted his position so he was on his back and not craning to look over his shoulder. "Jared, what _are_ we doing here?"

"I'm having epiphanies in the middle of the night and sharing them with you, I guess."

"But what does that mean?"

Jared didn't answer, at least not in words. Instead he slowly leaned closer, never taking his eyes off of Jensen's.

Jensen held his breath, watching Jared come nearer. At the last second, he leaned up to him, their lips meeting off-center but quickly sliding together into a warm, soft kiss.

Jensen had thought about their first kiss up against the door of his hotel room so many times that for a moment he thought he was remembering instead of experiencing. Jared's mouth was warm and soft, his touch slow and gentle, like he was being careful with Jensen. But the ground beneath his back was hard and rocky, and there was a cool breeze blowing around them, and they'd traveled so far to get to this place that he didn't want to miss a moment of it.

Everything was quiet except the sound of their lips moving, taking long, slow kisses from each other, and the rustle of the sleeping bag as they shifted position. Jensen was more than warm enough now, despite the chilly air outside the sleeping bag, given Jared's heat pressed alongside and on top of him. His hands roamed up and down Jared's back, pushing aside his shirts to feel firm muscle and soft skin underneath his fingers. 

Jared murmured something against his mouth in response, briefly pulling back to shove his shirts up to his armpits and leave a wider expanse of skin for Jensen to explore. Jensen closed his eyes as they started kissing again, lost in the feel of Jared's skin under his hands.

Jared's tongue brushed along Jensen's lips, and he met it with his own in a heated dance. His hips shifted restlessly as Jared's tongue pressed in and explored his mouth. There was a different kind of heat rising inside of him now, just as welcome. He pressed up against Jared, turning them around so Jared was on his back and Jensen was straddling him, legs bracketing Jared's as they continued to kiss.

Now Jared was pushing his clothing aside, and Jensen helped him until they were chest-to-chest, just enough sweat on their skin to make it sticky. He rotated his hips, feeling Jared's hard length against his own, and that heat inside of him started to grow again.

They were still kissing, wetter and harder than before, as their bodies started to move together. A small grunt escaped Jared's mouth every now and then, and Jensen was determined to bring that sound out of him as many times as he could. He tried with different presses of his hips and swirls of his tongue, and the almost helpless noise he got in response had him smiling against Jared's mouth.

He could feel it when Jared let go and started to thrust in earnest, his heels digging into the ground to get some leverage. "Shh, wait," he murmured, reaching down between their bodies.

"Don't wanna wait," Jared growled.

The sound of his voice sent a shiver down Jensen's spine. "Don't wanna mess up the few clothes we have with us," he said as he shoved Jared's clothes down off his hips.

To his surprise, Jared pulled him into a deep kiss, hands on his face. When he finally let Jensen go, he said, "I love how you're always planning the details."

Jensen grinned, lifting his hips up to get rid of his pants as well. "I do try to think ahead."

When he lowered himself back down, their bare cocks were beside each other, and the slow, sweet drag of skin-on-skin was a thousand times better than before. Jared's eyes were wide, cheeks flushed and lips kiss-swollen, and he was staring up at Jensen like he was going to come right there.

Instead, Jensen bent his head to lick and suck at the base of Jared's neck as he started to slowly undulate his hips. Jared's hands roamed over his bare back and ass, and where he wasn't touching Jensen's skin, the soft flannel of the sleeping bag was. Jensen dimly realized he was just writhing around on top of Jared, no rhythm to his movements, but everything felt so good, from the salty skin beneath his tongue to the firm hands gripping him to the ever-faster drag of their cocks past each other. Heat was building inside of him, past the point of no return, and he moaned into Jared's neck as he came.

"Oh Jensen, oh yeah, you're so—oh please…" Jared went tense against him, from the tendons in his neck to his legs wrapped around Jensen's, and it was almost like a second orgasm to feel his entire body shudder with his release. He was breathing hard in Jensen's ear, heart thumping a mile a minute under Jensen's hand. Jensen pressed a kiss to Jared's cheek before laying his head down on Jared's chest.

He'd almost fallen asleep again when Jared shifted underneath him. "Does that answer your question?" Jared asked, sounding amused.

Jensen lifted his head. "Huh?"

"About what we're doing here." Jared lifted a hand to run through Jensen's hair. 

He leaned into Jared's hand, feeling ridiculously like a cat about to purr. "And a fine answer it is." 

Jared grinned, but it faded away into something less certain. "What about what comes next?"

"Next?" Jensen propped himself up on his forearms, putting his weight on Jared's chest. "Next, we watch the sunrise—which is probably not too long from now, given that it's not completely dark anymore. Then we hike down the rest of this canyon, have lunch, and hike down the other canyon. Then we hope no one else comes to the campsite tonight, so we can do this again."

"And after that?"

He gave Jared a kiss and said, "We figure it out. We'll be seeing each other in L.A. soon. We only live a few hours apart. We can keep traveling together whether it's for a TV show or our own vlogs or just ourselves."

Jared looked at him for a long moment, the pre-dawn light capturing the happiness and relief on his face. "I'd like that," he said quietly.

He pulled Jensen into another kiss, long enough that they almost missed the sunrise. And if they only got one hike in that afternoon instead of two, well, Jensen still had enough footage to put together a video.

And if it wasn't a winning video, well, some things were more important.


	6. Los Angeles

Two months later

"Well, that was unexpected."

The three judges had gathered in Sam's office to watch the four finalists' videos, in anticipation of them arriving later that day. Misha was leaning his chair back on two legs, resting against the wall. Sam was behind her desk, and Alex was standing up, hands on his hips. "Can they _do_ that?" Alex asked.

"We didn't tell them not to," Misha pointed out.

"I didn't think it was necessary! Who cooperates with their competitors in the finals, anyway?" Alex gestured at the now-blank screen. "How are we supposed to tell them apart when they took the same trip?"

"It's not just about where they went, it's about how they framed it and narrated it," Sam reminded him. "Storytelling is part of the challenge. In that respect, I think Jensen did a lot better than Jared. Taking a newcomer on an overnight backpacking trip, on what looked like a pretty challenging trail, required transmitting a lot more technical knowledge than running a race."

"Ah, but persuading a first-timer they can run for that long takes a lot of skill as well," Misha pointed out. "I haven't done either one of these things, but I can envision myself running that race a lot more easily than I can see myself taking off into the wilderness."

Alex cleared his throat. "Did anyone else get the sense that they were…let's say, taking advantage of the show to have a vacation together?"

"You mean, was there some footage from inside the sleeping bag that didn't make the final cut?" Misha asked. "Yes, I definitely think there was. I saw how they were looking at each other when Jensen had his first cup of coffee as well as you did."

"That doesn't matter," Sam said with a wave of her hand. "I mean, yes, they're a cute couple, and God knows it's mentioned in about three-quarters of their comments."

"It's a ready-made fan base," Misha replied.

"But for which one of them?"

"What if we eliminated them both?" Alex asked. "Made it clear that they're so entwined with each other's videos that we can't easily judge them."

"Well, Lisa's video just wasn't as focused this time around," Sam said. "I feel like she took her sister to Spain to show us she could pull off two challenges at once, but it didn't quite work. It felt like she was visiting tourist spots instead of real flamenco clubs as her way of easing someone new into it, and the comments she's been getting indicate the same."

"I quite liked Rachel's piece," Misha said. "I think it might have even been sparked by our outdoorsy friends here. Taking her friend along on a nature hike and showing her how it was possible to get outdoors in a wheelchair seemed to really work."

Sam sighed and sat back in her chair. "The problem is, the way we've set this up, there's no way Lisa and Rachel don't get eliminated first. They're so far behind the two guys in terms of new subscribers, and based on the first half of the voting period, there's no way they'll catch up there."

"So we switch it up for the finals," Alex said. "Let someone go the first night and say it's based on subscribers, then narrow down three to one tomorrow without the voting."

"Richard will be sad if he doesn't get to do as many big dramatic reveals," Sam said. "And it could be a problem from a legal perspective if we change the rules at this late stage if we've done it the same way the whole time." She shook her head. "This is why everyone else films their competition show ahead of time and hopes the NDAs hold, rather than making it up on the go."

"But there are shows where they pass everyone on to the next round and then eliminate two at once," Alex argued.

"Well, if we think one of the two guys should win anyway, then we just let it play out," Misha said. 

"You're going to have to convince me that they shouldn't both be eliminated," Alex said, folding his arms across his chest. "And we've got one hour before the contestants start to arrive."

"Los Angeles, here we come!" Jared slipped on his sunglasses and strode out of baggage claim, already looking like a movie star in Jensen's eyes. "Isn't this great?" 

Jensen had his knapsack on both shoulders and coughed as he emerged into the arrivals area, where lines of cars and taxis issued their exhaust into the air. "Yeah, it's awesome."

"Okay, I know it's not Utah, but look at the palm trees!"

Jared had driven up to Austin to spend a couple of days with Jensen before they flew to L.A. together. Jensen had been pleased to note that even without the need to share body heat, it was still awfully nice to have Jared's body pressed up against him at night. 

It had also been nice to have condoms and lube on hand for once, and despite Jensen's best intentions to show Jared around Austin, they spent most of their time in his bedroom. Danneel had been thrilled to meet Hot Runner Guy, and she had considerately found somewhere else to be during the day, even if she did spend a lot of time saying, "I told you so" in advance.

They had agreed to keep their distance while they were in L.A., still not wanting to have their personal lives intersect with the show. Jensen wasn't sure Jared was entirely happy with that, but he was pleased that Jared was willing to follow his lead. It boded well for the future. 

The car that took them to the Beverly Hills hotel where the final show was being filmed seemed to take forever in the traffic. When they briefly rose above the city on an overpass, Jensen saw the same brown line of smog he'd seen as their flight descended into the airport. Not much to like here so far.

Nevertheless, meeting up with Rachel and Lisa again was always fun, and even Richard and the judges were enjoyable. Maybe it helped that no one knew yet who the first elimination would be: this time around, YouTube had blocked the views of hits and subscribers for their four channels so no one would know ahead of time, and the viewer voting had always taken place in secret. The judges made their final determination based on who was left, so at this point, it could be anyone.

Still, Jared's knee was jiggling up and down under the table next to him, and Jensen put a hand on his leg to still it. Jared gave him a sheepish smile in response and went still— for at least five minutes.

After dinner was over, Richard cleared his throat. "Our judges had a really hard task this time. We wanted to see if each of you could bring someone along with you and get them to enjoy what it is that you love doing so much. That's an important skill, and one that whoever wins the competition will be asked to do for a much larger audience on Sam's Netflix show."

"We all wanted to go along on all of your trips," Sam said. "You've enthralled us this whole time with your travels, and the final round was no exception. But unfortunately, someone has to be sent on their way."

"Our first elimination is based on the number of new subscribers that each of your channels received," Alex reminded them. "As On Your Way has become more popular, we've seen every one of you gain followers and comments, even those who are no longer in the running."

Jensen exchanged a glance with Jared, remembering the two fans they'd encountered at the start of the race.

"But two of you set an extra challenge for _us_ by combining forces," Misha said. "None of us was expecting that, and we did adjust the final numbers to take that into account."

He looked at Jared again. What was that supposed to mean?

Richard took over again. "In the end, we had to come up with our first elimination. Jared and Jensen…your trip was not what we expected, but it was very popular with your respective audiences." He paused for dramatic effect, looking back and forth between Lisa and Rachel before saying, "I'm sorry, Rachel, but you had the lowest number of new followers. We're going to have to send you on your way."

Jensen frowned. He hated to think of Rachel not making the cut, especially after Genevieve telling him how important this was to Rachel. And if he and Jared had somehow screwed up the judging system with their joint trip, that was hardly fair.

Rachel was quiet, looking back and forth among the three judges as if she could learn something more from their sorrowful expressions. Eventually, she gave the rest of them a wan smile. "Thank you for the opportunity to be here," she said. "I've definitely gone places I would have never gone otherwise, and I've got more planned for the future."

"We look forward to seeing it," Sam said. "You really did a fantastic job."

Rachel's smile faded, and she glanced at the cameras before wheeling herself away from the table and out of the room.

"Only three of you left," Richard said unnecessarily. "Who's it going to be?"

They didn't linger at the table as they had at previous meetups. Jared followed Jensen to his hotel room and stopped outside the door. "What do you think they meant by 'adjusting the numbers'?"

"I don't know. I kind of wish they hadn't said anything about that at all, you know? Now I'm wondering how fair it was to Rachel."

Jared shrugged. "It's a competition, Jensen. If we did better than her, then that's the end of it."

"I guess. It just makes me think of something Genevieve said in Montreal, though. That they already know who they want to win this, and they're making sure that's the final outcome."

"I'm sure they have an idea who would be the best bet for their own show," Jared said. "That includes who's popular with the audience, as well as who produces the best work. It's a good combination of criteria; it's been that way all along. That doesn't mean it's fixed."

"I suppose not." Jensen opened his door and hesitated, one hand on the door handle. "D'you want to come in?"

The corner of Jared's mouth turned up. "I thought we weren't doing any of that here."

Jensen looked up and down the hallway. "No cameras here."

He was getting used to falling asleep and waking up next to Jared a little too easily.

The next morning, their trip was to the Santa Monica Pier. Jensen wasn't a huge fan of crowds, but it was early enough in the morning that it wasn't too bad. He did appreciate that the pier extended far enough out into the water that you could stand in line with where the waves actually broke.

When he pointed this out to Jared, he was enthralled. Jensen explained how the ocean waves were really energy passing through the water, not water itself moving, and from here, you could actually see how the same bit of water circled up and around as the wave's energy passed through it.

"That's so cool," Jared said. "Nerd."

Jensen punched his shoulder, and he didn't even mind that the cameraman caught it.

A moment later, Jared had wandered off to take a look at something else, and Lisa came up beside him. "You guys aren't even going to battle it out at the end, are you?"

Jensen shook his head. "I don't know what you mean."

"C'mon. You were in each other's videos. You were freaking adorable. There's no way you aren't going to get all of the audience votes."

"Yours was pretty amazing, too. It was smart to go international again, and it looked like your sister had a great time learning flamenco."

"We had fun, sure. But we weren't lighting up the screen with the sexual tension between us."

Jensen scoffed. "No way. We weren't trying to—"

"I know you weren't," she said with a soft smile. "I know you're trying to keep it out of the show. But it's there for anyone to see. And I'm not even mad about it."

"Maybe they'll figure they can't cut either of us without cutting both of us, and then you'll win."

"Maybe." She shrugged and looked out over the water. "I've got ten times as many subscribers as I did before this whole thing started, and people are asking me to come check out their music all over the place. I'm not going to be hurting for things to do."

Sure enough, that night, after they finished their tacos in the private room of a Koreatown fusion restaurant and the live cameras were rolling, Lisa was the one to go. Jared watched her give Jensen a knowing look before giving both him and Jared a hug and going on her way.

"Well, this leaves us in a bit of a pickle!" Richard exclaimed. "You two have shown us you go together like PB&J. Like ham and cheese. Like bacon and…anything. You're just too good together."

"We all saw merit in both of your videos," Sam said. "You took on the challenge by bringing someone along who did a similar kind of physical activity, but not exactly the same. You had confidence they could accomplish the trip, but you still had to coach them along the way. That was a good choice on both of your parts."

Alex said, "Of course, the scenery was very similar, but we felt that Jensen did a better job of telling us a story. That's an important factor to consider, since this show is about taking the viewer along on the journey. Jared, we had expected your video would include more of your companion than it did; it was almost like you were emphasizing your experience over his, when he was the newcomer."

Jared bit his lip. To balance out the handholding at the finish line, he'd tried to downplay their relationship when he cut together the footage, and apparently he'd done too good of a job.

Misha spoke up. "But when you did cover Jensen's experience, you highlighted the preparation that he'd done at your suggestion, and how that played out during the race. You made a good teacher. Jensen, on the other hand, while you showed us the backpacking trip through Jared's eyes, more or less, we didn't get much sense of how you prepared him for that. He could have already been backpacking a hundred times."

He glanced at Jensen to see a frown on his face. Jensen had told him he'd cut out their discussions about having the wrong shoes or anything else that had been a first-timer's mistake, not wanting Jared to come off as doing things the wrong way. It looked like both of them had overcompensated.

"The winner of this contest is going to have their own show," Sam reminded them. "They'll have help with planning their trips in order to make them as camera-worthy as possible, but they'll still be responsible for choosing the locations. Jensen, you would probably have to go with some less-remote locations to make it easier on our crew. Is that a compromise you're willing to make?" 

"I don't know. I mean, to some extent, yes, but I don't want to go to places that are easy. Overcoming the challenge is part of the point." 

Jared silently cheered for Jensen standing up for his way of doing things, even here at the end.

"All right. Jared, we would probably want you to concentrate less on the running and more on the sightseeing. A whole season of watching you run might get a little old."

"Unless you ran in costume," Misha broke in. "That could be fun."

Jared gave him a pained smile, aware of not only their eyes on him, but anyone who was watching the livestream. "I feel like I already minimize the races, especially on this last trip. If that's not what you want to see, then you should probably pick Jensen."

"I see." Sam exchanged a glance with the other judges. "Well, I think it's time to make the final decision."

Jared's stomach was in knots, and he could feel the tension coming off Jensen in waves. In Utah, on their day hike the morning after, they'd decided not to talk about the show or what might happen, in order to put themselves first. Jared had been glad for it, because it meant he could focus on getting to know Jensen better and showing him that he really was serious about more than the competition. 

But now, it felt like they hadn't prepared at all for this moment, and he had no idea what to say.

Jensen cleared his throat. "What about the final voting?"

"Essentially tied," Misha said. There was a little smirk on his face as he looked back and forth between them. "Same with the new subscribers. Neither of you seems to have…come out on top."

Jared could feel his cheeks getting warm, but he refused to take the bait. "So, it's up to you guys then, right?" he asked.

"In a manner of speaking," Alex said. "It's really up to you. We want each of you to explain why you should win the competition. Since you weren't able to produce a final video that makes you stand apart from each other."

"Jared should win."

"What?" Jared turned to stare at Jensen. "You should win!"

Jensen held up a hand. "No, hear me out. Jared has been trying to make a profession out of this for years. He's studied what other people do, he's got his social media game already in place, and he goes to a wide variety of different places, perfect for a season-long show." He was looking at each one of the judges in turn as he went on, "He's met all of your challenges and done a great job with each one. He got me to run farther than I ever have in my life, and I bet he'd inspire a lot of your viewers, too."

"No, but here's the thing," Jared said. "Jensen had more subscribers than me from the start, because he's that much fun to watch. He won one of the two rounds, which puts him ahead of me. His social media is really starting to take off, and he's more than willing to listen to any suggestions you might have about how to improve even more. He's the right choice."

There was silence for a moment. Jared looked at Jensen to see him smiling ruefully, shaking his head. Jared shrugged one shoulder and gave him a helpless smile in response.

When he looked back at the judges, they were closely eyeing the both of them. Finally, Sam said, "Gentlemen, does that change our final decision?"

"Not mine," Misha said.

Alex shook his head, though he looked a little disgruntled.

Under the table, Jared reached out to his side. Just like in Utah, he wanted to have Jensen's hand in his as they crossed the finish line. Jensen grabbed his hand, and it was sweaty and warm in Jared's. Jared held on tight, straightening his shoulders and waiting to hear the decision. 

Sam said, "What we had planned for this final stage was for the judges to ask the two remaining finalists why they were the one who should win. Not why the other person should win."

Alex added, "But then, you two have been unexpected from the start. We didn't realize you already knew each other before the competition."

"We never met before Denver," Jared quickly said. "We'd just seen each other's vlogs. It's not like we planned any of this."

"That makes it even better." Misha leaned forward in his seat. "And then your last two trips together, holding hands while crossing the finish line and making eyes at each other the rest of the time…that's good stuff. With the sexual tension you have going on there, it'll make a great backdrop to the trips you take together."

Jared blinked. "The what now?"

Sam was grinning. "We decided that since your chemistry was so strong together in the last videos you shot—and that the voters loved you both—we're going to offer the show to both of you. We want a whole season of Jared learning to backpack and Jensen learning to run. Or each of you doing your own thing sometimes, but sharing it with each other like you've been doing. The audience will love it."

Jensen was gripping Jared's hand so tightly it hurt, but Jared was grateful for the sensation to tether him to the ground. "Are you serious?" Jensen blurted out.

"Completely." Richard beamed at them both. "The two of you are On Your Way!"

"Holy shit," Jared breathed out. He turned to look at Jensen to see him staring back, eyes wide. "We did it."

"We did." A slow smile spread across Jensen's face, and then he launched himself at Jared in a bear hug.

Jared wrapped his arms around him and held on tight. He could see the camera being rolled around the table to get a better view of them, and he knew they were going to have a long, long series of interviews after this moment.

Not to mention all of the planning that was going to happen in the next couple of weeks for the show—holy shit, he was going to have a TV show—and the travel that would follow it over the next year. Plus, he and Jensen would have to have some conversations about how much of their personal life to share during the show.

But he'd never imagined this outcome, and at least for this moment, it was perfect. 

He hugged Jensen harder and flashed a grin at the camera. "We're on our way!"

Epilogue

"All right, you guys, that's good for now. We'll get set up at the campsite and meet you there."

Jensen waved at Gabe and Matt as they packed up their gear and headed inland. He turned the wave into a mosquito swat on his shoulder. "Ow. Definitely going to have a fire tonight. Not just to keep warm but for the smoke to keep the bugs away."

"I would have thought April was too early in northern Michigan for mosquitoes."

"They sure are persistent." Jensen clapped his hands in the air, pleased when he felt something squish between his palms. "Hah. Now there's one less."

"Bugs aside, this is really nice." Jared gestured at the view in front of them. "I think we're all going to have to come back here to watch the sunset."

The deep blue of Lake Superior stretched into the distance, with white rocks on the shoreline curving around to their left, and a small green island in front of them. "I think the race will be fun, too," Jared went on. He pointed at the island. "That's it there, I think."

"Sounds pretty cool to run all the way around an island," Jensen said. 

"You sure you don’t want to run it with me?"

Jensen spread his hands apart. "I've got a date with the North Country Trail. Going to see how far I can get before the camera guy gives up." 

Jared gave him a reproachful look. "We're not supposed to outrun the cameras, Jensen."

"Says the guy who's still going to have to use his GoPro because Netflix didn't have a cameraman fast enough to keep up with him during the race."

"Fair point." Jared gave a not-entirely-modest shrug.

Jensen stepped closer, glancing past Jared to make sure Matt and Gabe were really gone. "Too bad it's not going to be that cold tonight."

"Yeah, I can't fit all three of you in my sleeping bag," Jared grinned.

"Oh, shut up," Jensen said, grabbing the front of Jared's shirt and pulling him closer.

They kissed for the first time all day, and it was worth the wait. Jensen pulled back, blinking a few times to bring himself back to earth. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow." Jared reached up and briefly caressed his jaw. "Gonna miss you for the next three days."

"It'll be fine. Matt and Gabe will appreciate being able to film anything they want."

"It was really nice of them to agree to keep our personal lives out of the show."

"Danneel says it's hopeless anyway, that we have hearts in our eyes when we look at each other." Jensen shook his head. "And that was just from the trailer."

"Yeah, Chad said anyone who watches that will know that we're boning." Jared shrugged as if to excuse the crude language.

"Well, maybe we can offer to spice it up if they give us a second season," Jensen said with a grin.

Jared beamed. "I'm up for that."

"I'll think about it." He kissed Jared again, winding his arms around his waist. "As long as you're willing to renew my contract."

"Baby, you're on your way," Jared murmured with a wink.

Jensen wasn't even done rolling his eyes when Jared pulled him into another kiss. He sighed and melted into him. 

There wasn't anywhere else he'd rather be.


End file.
